Letters on the Character and Poetical Genius of Lord Byron.
London: Printed for Longman, 1824. First edition. Spine dampstained and chipped, first leaf of preface trimmed (not affecting text), occasional light foxing. Generally a very good, uncut copy. Original drab boards, printed paper spine label. Octavo. vii, [1, blank], 457, [1, ads] pp. Item #7702
“Of the early estimates of Byron that are primarily critical rather than biographical, the most thoughtful is the series of Letters on the character and poetical genius of Lord Byron, by Sir Samuel Egerton Brydges. In this book the general discussions of poetical principles, of imagination, fancy, invention, judgment, and so forth suggest that Brydges had studies the Biographia Litteraria and Wordsworth’s Preface of 1815 with care” (Chew, Byron in England). Brydges (1762-1837), was a poet, bibliographer, genealogist, and proprietor of the Lee Priory Press. His greatest legacy is as the editor of many rare Elizabethan and seventeenth-century texts, notably the seventeenth-century writer Edward Phillips’ critical miscellany Theatrum Poetarum (1800) and Robert Greene's autobiographical pamphlet, Greenes groatsworth of witte . . . (1813). He published a number of critical essays and a book on Imaginative Biography (1834).
Price: $750.00