AKENSIDE (Mark): - The Pleasures of Imagination. A Poem. In Three Books.

London: Printed for R. Dodsley..., 1744. FIRST EDITION. 4to, pp. [3] - 125 [126 blank], title-page in red and black, with engraved vignette, five-line footnote on p. 9, page 20 misnumbered 22, contemporary quarter calf, marbled boards; two small "bites" in top margin of title-page, lacks half-title and leaf of adverts, binding very rubbed, worn, and falling to bits. Akenside's reputation has never been as high as it was in the 50 or 60 years or so after this work was published, e. g., Erasmus Darwin "ever maintained a preference of Akenside's blank verse to Milton'," while his daughter Anna Seward recorded that she regarded the present poem as "the most splendid metaphysic poem in any language."