Direct from the Regency library of Elizabeth Greenly, later Lady Elizabeth Coffin Greenly. Elizabeth Greenly, born at Titley Court, Herefordshire, was a noted and varied collector. She kept prolific diaries from 1784 until her death in 1839 which included her responses to current events and occasions in her daily life. Among the diaries many names and anecdotes of celebrities of the time appear, including Lord Byron, Marie Atoniette, Mary Wollstonecraft and Hannah More. She was known to comment on customs of foreign countries to which she and her friends had travelled, and had a keen interest in scientific discoveries and advancements including medicine and archaeology.
The Greenly library contents show Elizabeth Greenly's numerous interests including: Welsh causes, Science, topography, travel, Bibliana and literature, particularly female poets. The library contains many first editions of contemporary works, and many are signed or contain her bookplate. The library contained over 1000 volumes which show the diversity and depth of her interests and give an insight into the life of this fascinating collector.
Prior was an English poet and diplomat. He was a contributor to the Tory newspaper The Examiner. Prior's work contains a lot of variety. These volumes include his most ambitious poem Solomon and the paraphrase of The Nut-Brown Maid, which was one of his lesser successful poems. His greatly received Alma, an admitted imitation of Samuel Butler is also in volume III. Condition Report: In full tree calf bindings. Externally, very smart with rubbing to spines. Volumes I and II lacking spine label. popular Prior owner's ink inscriptions to first front blank of each volume. Internally, firmly bound. Ribbon bookmarks have offset to each volume. The odd spot throughout. Overall: Very Good
Product code: 1777 3vols Poetical Works of Matthew Prior with popular Life of Author Illustrated