A SELECT COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL LETTERS; written by the most eminent persons, on various entertaining subjects, and on many important occasions: from the reign of Henry the eighth, to the present time.

DUNCOMBE, John.

Published by London: printed for J. and J. Rivington in St. Paul's Church-Yard and R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall, 1755

About this Item

Two volumes, 12mo, pp. v, [i], 336; [ii], 303; rebound in later half calf over marbled boards, upper cover detached. First edition of this collection, edited by the miscellaneous writer John Duncombe (1729-86), including the famous love letters from Henry VIII to Anne Boleyn, and from literary figures such as Locke, Dennis, Wycherley, Congreve, Pope (to Swift) and Etherege. The first part of the second volume has about fifty letters from the Earl of Rochester to his friend Henry Savile, and to Elizabeth Barry: these had been published in Familiar Letters (2 vols, 1697). Provenance. 19th century bookplate of Osmond de Beauvoir Priaulx (1805-91), founder of the Priaulx library on Guernsey, which is in effect the island's national library; and bookseller's label of W. Allason, 31 New Bond St, London.

Seller Inventory # 26591

Bibliographic Details

• Title: A SELECT COLLECTION OF ORIGINAL LETTERS; written by the most eminent persons, on various entertaining subjects, and on many important occasions: from the reign of Henry the eighth, to the present time.
• Publisher: London: printed for J. and J. Rivington in St. Paul's Church-Yard and R. and J. Dodsley in Pall-Mall
• Publication Date: 1755
• Binding: Hardcover
• Edition: 1st Edition
• Seller catalogs:
  • English lit