{"product_id":"the-poetical-works-of-henry-kirke-white-1st-aldine-edition","title":"The Poetical Works of Henry Kirke White — 1st Aldine Edition","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003ePublication:\u003c\/b\u003e London, William Pickering, 1830\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eFormatting:\u003c\/b\u003e 8vo, pp. lviii, 252.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCondition Report:\u003c\/b\u003e Very Good. A handsome and robustly bound copy, encased in full dark morocco leather. The boards display minor rubbing to the extremities and some light wear to the corners and joints, but the binding remains tight and structurally sound. The elaborate gilt tooling, notably the central lyre vignette on the boards and the ornate scrollwork on the spine, remains bright and unoxidised. Internally, the book is tightly bound with no splitting. There is a mid-nineteenth-century gift inscription to the front flyleaf. The preliminary pages, including the engraved frontispiece and title page, exhibit the mild, scattered foxing and offsetting typical of the era, but the main text block remains crisp, clean, and highly readable. All edges gilt. A very pleasing, well-preserved copy.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cb\u003eCatalogue Note:\u003c\/b\u003e This is the first Aldine edition of the text, issued as part of the highly regarded 'Aldine Edition of the British Poets' series. This ambitious undertaking sought to provide authoritative and elegantly printed editions of classic British poets. The text includes a prefatory memoir of the author, edited by Sir Harris Nicolas.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eThe volume is notably adorned with an engraved frontispiece portrait of Kirke White, and the title page bears the famous Aldine device, an anchor and dolphin, adopted to symbolise a strict commitment to the high typographical standards of the Renaissance Aldine Press.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eWhile standard cloth-bound copies of this series regularly appear on the open market, this specific volume is elevated by its contemporary, finely executed full morocco binding. The prominent gilt lyre device on the boards and the intricate spine tooling suggest a bespoke presentation binding. The front flyleaf bears a charming piece of historic provenance: an inscription reading, \"Jane Archer with the affectionate regards of her friend Charles Birch Sept. 1844.\"\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003eHenry Kirke White (1785–1806) was a young English poet whose early brilliance and tragic death at the age of twenty-one secured him a lasting, romanticised legacy in nineteenth-century literature. Admired by contemporaries such as Lord Byron and Robert Southey, who vigorously championed his posthumous works, White's poetry is characterised by its melancholic introspection, deep piety, and sensitive appreciation of the natural world. This collection gathers his most celebrated verses, including 'Clifton Grove', offering a poignant glimpse into the mind of a promising literary talent cut tragically short.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Broadhursts Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54495475040595,"sku":"4924","price":140.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0960\/1469\/6787\/files\/20260730_231926.jpg?v=1785933682","url":"https:\/\/broadhurstsbooks.com\/products\/the-poetical-works-of-henry-kirke-white-1st-aldine-edition","provider":"Broadhursts Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}