READING RACES, OR, THE BERKSHIRE BEAUTIES. A poem.

Published by Reading Printed for the author and sold by Carnan and Smart in Reading; Willis Newbury; Blakeney Windsor; Russell Guildford; Cook Farnham; Wells Marlborough; and Jackson at Oxford, 1777

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Seller: Christopher Edwards ABA ILAB, Henley-on-Thames, Oxon, United KingdomChristopher Edwards ABA ILAB

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AbeBooks seller since January 6, 2000

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Hardcover

Condition: Used

£ 850.00

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Item description from seller

4to, pp. 33; bound without the half title, else a very good, large copy bound in old marbled boards, neatly rebacked and recornered with calf (later endpapers, but in the style of the period). Booklabel of John Sparrow. First and only edition of this charming poem set in Reading, Berkshire, celebrating the beautiful young women to be seen at a ball presumably (though this is not actually stated, except in the title) held on the occasion of the races at the town. The fiction is that Zeus comes down, attended by Hermes, to choose a mortal bride from among the belles at the assembly, and that he takes the form of a handsome soldier the better to view the young ladies. Most of the girls are named, and among them are several well-known local surnames, such as Englefield (no doubt a sister of the local antiquary, Henry Englefield, who was born about 1752), Hoare, Churchill and the Loveday sisters. These last two are probably Penelope (1759-1846) and Sarah (1761-1832), daughters of the traveller and scholar John Loveday (1711-89), who lived at Caversham just over the river from Reading. This is a rare poem: ESTC records copies at three locations in Britain (BL, Bodleian and Reading UL) and five in the USA (Princeton, Berkeley, Cincinnati, Pennsylvania and Yale). Jackson, Annals, p. 57.…

Seller Inventory # 16991

Bibliographic details

Title
READING RACES, OR, THE BERKSHIRE BEAUTIES. A poem.
Author
[READING.]
Publisher
Reading Printed for the author and sold by Carnan and Smart in Reading; Willis Newbury; Blakeney Windsor; Russell Guildford; Cook Farnham; Wells Marlborough; and Jackson at Oxford
Publication year
1777
Binding
Hardcover
Seller catalogs
Poetry

Christopher Edwards ABA ILAB

Henley-on-Thames, Oxon, United Kingdom

5-star seller

AbeBooks seller since January 6, 2000

Association member:

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English literature, British history, Early continental books

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Christopher Edwards ABA ILAB

United Kingdom