The Works. POPE (Alexander).

The Works. In Six Volumes, Complete. With His Last Corrections, Additions, and Improvements; Together With All His Notes.

Engraved frontispiece portrait and three plates in vol.1, five plates in vol.2, and a frontispiece and two plates in vol.3.

Six volumes 12mo. [176 x 105 x 140 mm]. Bound in contemporary sprinkled calf, the spines divided into six panels by raised bands flanked with gilt double fillets, lettered in the second on a red goatskin label, numbered directly in the third, the others with a small lozenge-shaped centre, the edges of the boards tooled with a blind roll, plain endleaves and edges. (Corners slightly bumped).

Edinburgh: printed by A. Donaldson, and sold at his Shops in London and Edinburgh, 1767

A very fine set in immaculate Scottish calf. Possibly wanting a frontispiece in vol.2.

Alexander Donaldson, the Scottish bookseller, was some years away from establishing his right to reprint classic works of literature, when the copyright was supposedly held by the London booksellers. In these circumstances, where a profitable text was at stake, the London trade often tried to drive out a rival by reprinting at a cheaper price, rather than by taking him to court. It may be no coincidence that in the same year a London edition in 6 vols 12mo, printed for the usual suspects (Millar, Tonson, Bathurst etc) also appeared.

Small early bookplate in each volume of Carmichael of Eastend. The Carmichaels lived from time immemorial at Eastend, Carmichael, Lanarkshire. The house is now abandoned and gradually collapsing. From the collection of Ian Park.

Stock no. ebc8997