Author: THOMSON, JAMES
Title: The Seasons
Description: London: A. Millar, 1758. Reprint. 1. Hard Cover. Professionally quarter bound in leather over original boards, new endpapers. Illustrated with four engraved plates, one for each season. James Thomson (1700-1748) was a Scottish poet and playwright, known for his masterpiece "The Seasons" and the lyrics of "Rule, Britannia!." First published as a group in 1730, this collection of poems has been reprinted many times. A dispute over the publishing rights to "The Seasons" gave rise to two important legal decisions (Millar v. Taylor; Donaldson v. Beckett) in the history of copyright. "The Seasons" was translated into German by Barthold Heinrich Brockes (1745). This translation formed the basis for a work with the same title by Gottfried van Swieten, which became the libretto for Haydn's oratorio "The Seasons." "‘The Seasons’ may be regarded as inaugurating a new era in English poetry. Lady Winchilsea and John Dyer had pleaded by their work for a truthful and unaffected and at the same time a romantic treatment of nature in poetry; but the ideal of artificiality by which English poetry was dominated under the influence of Cowley and Pope was first effectively challenged by Thomson. It was he who transmitted the sentiment of nature not only to imitators like Savage, Armstrong, Somerville, and Shenstone, but also to Gray and Cowper, and so indirectly to Wordsworth. Cowper in particular was interpenetrated with the spirit and feeling of ‘The Seasons,’ and it is related in a pathetic passage how in the last ‘glimmerings of cheerfulness’ before his final collapse he walked in the moonlight in St. Neots churchyard and spoke earnestly of Thomson's ‘Seasons,’ and the circumstances under which they were probably written. From 1750 to 1850 Thomson was in England the poet, par excellence, not of the eclectic and literary few, but of the large and increasing cultivated middle class. ‘Thomson's “Seasons” looks best (I maintain it) a little torn and dog's-eared’ (Lamb, Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading). When Coleridge found a dog-eared copy of ‘The Seasons’ in an inn, and remarked ‘That is fame,' Thomson's popularity seemed quite as assured as Milton's." - DNB. Professionally rebacked in quarter leather over original boards, new endpapers; former owner's signature on title page, one corner of title page torn (not affecting any text), otherwise unmarked, tight and square. VERY GOOD.. Engravings. 16mo 6" - 7" tall. 209 pp. Very Good with no dust jacket .

Keywords: Poetry Rare Books Illustrated Book Novels, Poetry & Literature Poetry


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