ENGLISH LITERATURE. COLLECTION OF 290 VOLUMES

Tennyson, Alfred, Lord. The Lover's Tale. C. Kegan Paul & Co., 1879, FIRST PUBLISHED ISSUE, INTERLEAVED WITH RICHARD HERNE SHEPHERD'S MANUSCRIPT NOTES, half-title, full green morocco gilt, spine gilt in compartments, gilt dentelles, top edge gilt, slipcase, joints sensitively repaired and boards re-attached--Lamb, Charles. A Tale of Rosamund Gray and Old Blind Margaret. Printed for Lee and Hurst, 1798, FIRST EDITION, SECOND ISSUE (with London imprint and the title page a cancel), full green morocco by Riviere & Son, gilt dentelles, all edges gilt, some spotting to preliminaries, lacking blanks; together with 288 further volumes, chiefly poetry and prose, 18th - 20th century, including works by Austen, Dickinson, Trollope and Wilde, collected editions of Bryon, Coleridge, Goldsmith, Longfellow, Lowell, Milton, Scott and Thackeray, numerous volumes of poetry and poetry in translation, and later editions of English and American literature, mostly 8vo, various bindings including half calf and original cloth, some wear to bindings, including detached boards on c.20 volumes, spotting and browning, pencil and ink inscriptions to preliminaries of a few volumes (c. 290)

[all works:] John Whipple Frothingham, bookplates
[Tennyson]: Edwin Babcock Holden (1861-1906), bookplate; his sale, American Art Association, New York, 1 May 1910, lot 1641

"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."

Shepherd pirated The Lover's Tale a number of times before it finally became available in this authorised edition in 1879. Shepherd's manuscript notes in this copy compare the final published text to the 1833 version (which was prepared for publication but abandoned, with only a few copies being distributed to Tennyson's circle). Shepherd's bibliography of Tennyson was published posthumously in 1896, as an expansion of his earlier Tennysonania (1866). (See Wise, Tennyson I.10)