Poems, supposed to have been written at Bristol, by Thomas Rowley, and others, in the fifteenth century; the greatest part now first published from the most authentic copies, with an engraved specimen of one of the MSS. [...]

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Full title: Poems, supposed to have been written at Bristol, by Thomas Rowley, and others, in the fifteenth century; the greatest part now first published from the most authentic copies, with an engraved specimen of one of the MSS. To which are added, a preface, an introductory account of the several pieces, and a glossary. 8vo. ff. [2] (blank), pp. xxvii (p. xiii called xii), [1] (blank), 333, [1] (blank), f. [1] (plates). Calf-backed boards. Plates: John Webb. American Antiquarian Society, from Mr. David Wilden. Worcester. Jan. 1833. Manuscript note giving editors for both titles. Signature of David Wilden, Worcester 1833. Engraving with coats of arms facing p. 288, signed "I. Strutt sculpt." Bound with Chatterton, Miscellanies in prose and verse; by Thomas Chatterton, the supposed author of the poems published under the names of Rowley, Canning, &c. London, Printed for Fielding and Walker, 1778 (see Bib# 4103367/Fr# 419 in this collection and below). First edition, first issue, with the ‘Advertisement’ (c4) in its first state, reading at end ‘[...] MSS. in the hand-writing of Thomas Chatterton, and were probably composed by him.’ This phrase was meant to refer to the manuscript ‘Notes,’ not the poems themselves, but may have seemed a dark hint, and the editor, Thomas Tyrwhitt, – still in 1777 a believer in ‘Rowley’ – caused the last six words to be canceled. Includes, on pp. 309-333: ‘Appendix; containing some observations upon the language of the poems attributed to Rowley; tending to prove, that they were written, not by any ancient author, but entirely by Thomas Chatterton.’ Click here to view the Johns Hopkins University catalog record. On Miscellanies in prose and verse : 8vo. f. [1] (blank), pp. xxxii, 245 (p.207 misnumbered 107), f. [1] (plates), pp. [3], 243-246, f. [1] (blank). Includes frontispiece and other illustrations. Preface signed: J.B. [i.e. John Broughton] (see British Museum Catalogue; Dictionary of National Biography). The present work is publishing newly surfaced “Rowley” material. It contains a gratuitous prefatory attack on Horace Walpole. There are two copies in this collection. The present is in calf-backed boards, and is bound with Chatterton’s ‘Poems’ (1777, with c4 uncanceled). See also ESTC, T39457; M.A. Warren, A descriptive bibliography of Thomas Chatterton. New York, 1977, p. 5. Click here to view the Johns Hopkins University catalog record.