Clare, John.

The Shepherd's Calendar; with Village Stories and Other Poems, published for John Taylor, 1827, first edition, inscribed by Clare on the half-title, ("To Thomas Gent Esqr with the Author's respectful remembrances, March 25. 1828"), 12mo, 238 pages (165 x 96mm), engraved frontispiece, nineteenth-century half morocco, without advertisements, browning to frontispiece and title; together with: The Works of Byron...Volume 1 (only, of 4), John Murray, 1823, inscribed by Clare to his patron Eliza Emmerson ("...To Mrs E.L. Emmerson from one who admires her Talents & values her Friendship. These works of an Immortal Genius are affectionately presented by John Clare"), on the half-title, 303 pages, 8vo, frontispiece portrait of Byron, modern quarter calf



Autograph letter signed, to the writer and satirist William Hone (1780-1842), enclosing a volume of poems (probably The Shepherd's Calendar), fulfilling "a long Promise", and asking to hear his good opinion of it ("..for you must know as an Author that the praise of a man of taste & genius is always gratifying..."), 1 page, small 4to, integral autograph address panel ("...favoured by Mr H. Behnes"), red seal, Helpston, 18 May 1828, some smudging of the ink, seal-tear repaired, tipped onto an album-leaf

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, when appropriate.
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In 1828, the artist Henry Behnes made the bronze bust of John Clare that now sits in Northampton Public Library.  He probably introduced Clare to William Hone the same year, when the poet visited London; the unsual formula that Clare employs on the address leaf here suggests that this letter played a part in the introduction.  Hone subsequently included several extracts from The Shepherd's Calendar in his almanac Poor Humphrey's Calendar (1829): see Mina Gorji, John Clare and the Place of Poetry (2008), page 150n.  Eliza Emmerson was an important patron of Clare, who promoted his first book of poetry, Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery (1820), and arranged the publication of his last (The Rural Muse) in 1835.