Cyder. A Poem. bound with The Spendid Shilling. An Imitation of Milton. (1719, Third corrected edition, 8pp); Bleinheim: A Poem. (1719, Fifth edition, 28pp); The Life and Character of Mr. John Philips, by Mr. Sewell. (1720, Third edition, engraved portrait frontis., & 36pp); Poems on Several Occasions. (1720, Third edition, 12pp),

PHILIPS, John

Published by London: J. Tonson: edition,, 1720

About this Item

8vo, 78pp + 1pp ads, half-title present, engraved frontis., bound with the following:- "The Spendid Shilling. An Imitation of Milton." (1719, Third corrected edition, 8pp); "Bleinheim: A Poem." (1719, Fifth edition, 28pp); "The Life and Character of Mr. John Philips", by Mr. Sewell. (1720, Third edition, engraved portrait frontis., & 36pp); Poems on Several Occasions." (1720, Third edition, 12pp), bound in good quality later half calf gilt with contrasting morocco label by Period Binders, Bath. A VG++ copy. John Philips was born at Bampton, Oxfordshire, the son of the parish vicar, Stephen Philips (1638-84), and his wife Mary, née Cook (1640-1715). He was educated, from 1691, at Winchester College and, from 1697, at Christ Church, Oxford, where he studied botany and other sciences for a time. Philips began writing poetry as a student, and in 1701 his poem The Splendid Shilling, a burlesque in Miltonic verse, appeared in a pirated version. After another pirated edition, Philips published a corrected folio version in 1705. Addison later called it the finest burlesque poem in the British language (Tatler, No. 249), it was anthologized throughout the 18th century. Through it, Philips was introduced to Henry St. John (later Viscount Bolingbroke), and was commissioned to write Blenheim, intended as an alternative to Addison's The Campaign. Philips left Oxford sometime after 1707, without taking a degree. Philips' poem Cyder, a georgic poem on the process of cider-making, with many local allusions to Herefordshire, was published by Tonson in 1708. It was an influence on Alexander Pope's Windsor-Forest (1713) as well as on the landscape poetry of Dyer and Thomson. Philips died at Hereford early in 1709. He was buried in Hereford Cathedral. An edition of Philips's Poems, with a Life by George Sewell, was published by Curll in 1713. Seller Inventory # 1652

Bibliographic Details

Title: Cyder. A Poem. bound with The Spendid ...

Publisher: London: J. Tonson: edition,

Publication Date: 1720

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very Good

Edition: 3rd Edition