Wordsworth, William.

8vo, 2 volumes, first edition, engraved frontispieces by J.C. Bromley and S. W Reynolds (after Sir George Beaumont ); [together with:] Poems...including The River Duddon; A Series of Sonnets; Vaudracour and Julia; Peter Bell; The Waggoner; A Thanksgiving Ode; and Miscelleneous Pieces. Vol. III, for Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1820, engraved frontispiece by Bromley after Beaumont for Peter Bell; first volume signed by the author ( "Wm Wordsworth | Stow | June 1849"), all three volumes inscribed by the poet's sister dorothy wordsworth to john monkhouse, a few pencil annotations to the text, uniformly bound in nineteenth-century brown russia, covers decorated in blind, spines lettered in gilt, gilt dentelles, all edges gilt, rebacked preserving the original spines, some occasional spotting (3)

John Monkhouse, inscriptions to him by Dorothy Wordsworth and bookplates; Simon Noel-Smith and his wife Judith Adams Noel-Smith, their book-labels, Bertram Rota, Catalogue 300 (2002), The Simon Nowell-Smith Collection, item 800 

Wise 11

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, when appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

a fine presentation set inscribed by the poet's wife to one of their closest friends.

Also pasted in at the end of the third volume are two leaves containing four quatrains in manuscript signed "Dorothy Wordsworth | Rydal Mount | August 1845 | for Mr. Monkhouse". Earlier drafts of parts of this poem date from 1824-1832.

John Monkhouse of Stow had been a very close friend of the Wordsworths since the 1770s when he, William and Dorothy, and William's future wife Mary Hutchinson, attended the same school in Penrith. Monkhouse himself married one of Mary's sisters.

Wise notes that the third volume in this set was made up of sheets from four works previously issued between 1816 and 1820, with a new general title page.