Tragedies. Ion.-The Athenian Captive.-Glencoe

Talfourd, Thomas Noon

Published by Edward Moxon, London, 1840

About this Item

PRESENTATION COPY. First collected edition. London: Edward Moxon, 1840. Octavo (8 3/16" x 5 1/4", 209mm x 132mm). [Full collation available.] Bound in contemporary green morocco. On the boards, a central gilt lyre within a double fillet border. On the spine, five raised bands. Titles gilt to the second, third, fourth and fifth panels. Date gilt to the tail. On the head- and tail-pieces, pairs of gilt fillets. On the edges of the boards, gilt rolls continuing into the inside dentelle. All edges of the text-block gilt. Purple silk marking ribbon. Some rubbing to the extremities. A chip to the front edge of the head-piece. Scattered mild foxing. A near-fine copy. On the recto of the second free end-paper, a presentation inscription from the author: "The R.t Hon: Sir Herbert Jen[n]er Fust/ With the respects and regards/ of/ Th Talfourd/ 28 June 1843." Thomas Talfourd (1795-1854) was a judge and a member of parliament (for Reading, 1835-1841 and 1847-1849). Unlike so many in that career, he achieved a certain success as an author and playwright as well. The present item collects the three plays listed in the title (plus a handful of sonnets at the end of Ion), which were mounted at Covent Garden (Ion and The Athenian Captive) and at the Haymarket (Ion and Glencoe, subtitled "The Fate of the Macdonalds"). Ion was his most successful play, not only being remounted in London but enjoying acclaim in America. These first two plays instantiate the Classical revival of the early Victorian era; they are written in a high and rich style, somewhat reminiscent of Keats. Glencoe has a clear debt to Sir Walter Scott. The plays were previously published separately (some more than once) but the present item is the first collected edition; it would have several subsequent editions in London and New York through 1850. That this first edition was published by Edward Moxon is significant: Talfourd gave a powerful speech in his defense on the subject of his publication of Shelley's Poetical Works in 1841. It is a landmark in English copyright law. Talfourd, as he does not avoid mentioning in the prefatory material, was a great friend of Charles Dickens, who dedicated The Pickwick Papers to him (1837). Indeed, Household Words of 25 March 1854 contains a tender homage to the "charming writer and accomplished speaker." He circulated not only in great literary society but also in great judicial society. Talfourd was a director the Legal and General Life Assurance Society, of which Sir Herbert Jenner-Fust (1778-1852) was a trustee. Jenner-Fust was also Dean of the Arches, the presiding judge of the ecclesiastical court of the Archbishop of Canterbury. Both were educated at Reading Grammar School, perhaps the source of their acquaintance. Seller Inventory # 6JLR0084

Bibliographic Details

Title: Tragedies. Ion.-The Athenian Captive.-Glencoe

Publisher: Edward Moxon, London

Publication Date: 1840

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Very good

Signed: Signed by Author(s)

Edition: First.