Tennyson, Alfred, Lord.

8vo, 44pp. sewn pamphlet (including final blank leaf), first edition of the author's first separately published work, original plain blue wrappers, preserved in qaurter blue morocco folding box, tiny nicks to first and last leaves and to wrappers, torn on spine

The Brooklyn collector W.A. White, pencil inscription on title page

The early twentieth-century book collector William Augustus White (d.1928), a customer of A.S. W. Rosenbach,  assembled a fine collection of early English books (see Hand-List of early English Books...collected by W.A. White, New York, 1914, and Catalogue of early English books chiefly of the Elizabethan period...catalogued by Henrietta C. Bartlett, New York, 1926). A  number of his books were presented to or later acquired by Harvard and Princeton.

Hayward 245; Tinker 2059; Wise 3

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."

the first edition of "timbuctoo",  in the original wrappers.

Tennyson won the Chancellor's gold medal for poetry at Cambridge in June 1829, with this, his poem on the set subject Timbuctoo. "Reworking an earlier poem (as he was so often to do with consummate re-creative imagination), this on Armageddon, 'altering the beginning and the end' to bend it on Timbuctoo, 'I was never so surprised as when I got the prize' (Lincoln MS, 'Materials for a Life of A. T.'; H. Tennyson, Memoir, 2.355) . The surprise was the greater in that the winning poem was, unprecedentedly, not in heroic couplets but in blank verse. At the heart of the poem is a trance such as fascinated Tennyson lifelong... (Oxford DNB)

There is a separately printed offprint of Timbuctoo, published later in the same year, which is known in even fewer copies (Wise 4).