London: A. Millar, 1753. First edition. First edition of Fielding's proposal, in the face of the inadequacies of the Poor Laws, to establish country workhouses to shelter, educate and employ the poor. The Proposal builds on Fielding's Enquiry into the Causes of the Late Increase of Robbers (1751), in which..... Read More about A Proposal for Making an Effectual Provision for the Poor, for Amending Their Morals, and for...

London: A. Millar, 1749. First edition. First edition of Fielding's defense of the government's controversial decision to hang the young wig maker Bosavern Penlez after his involvement in riots at several London bawdy houses. Fielding, as chief magistrate, was responsible for quelling the riots, and it was his disclosure that..... Read More about A True State of the Case of Bosavern Penlez, Who Suffered on Account of the Late Riot in the...

London: M. Cooper, 1747. First edition. The last of Fielding's political tracts, a response to an anti-ministerial pamphlet — An Apology for the Conduct of a Late Celebrated Second-Rate Minister — that posed as the apology of Thomas Winnington, a prominent Whig and member of the government. "Winnington" claims that..... Read More about A Proper Answer to a Late Scurrilous Libel, Entitled, An Apology for the Conduct of a Late...

London: Printed for W. Griffin, 1770. First edition. The quarto edition is now believed to be the true first, preceding the several unauthorized duodecimo printings, demonstrated to have been later piracies by William B. Todd (v. Rothschild 1032 'Notes' and Studies in Bibliography, vi, 1953). Read More about The Deserted Village, A Poem

A Londres, et se trouve à Paris: Pisso et Desaint, 1767. First French edition. First French edition. ESTC describes it as "probably printed in Paris" and attributes the translation to C. G. Beraud de la Haie de Riou (Madame de Montesson) and M. Rose, or M. Charlos. Read More about Le Ministre de Wakefield, histoire supposée écrite par lui-mȇme

London: J. Tonson and J. Watts, 1735. First collected edition. First collected edition, published posthumously by subscription and edited by Hughes' brother-in-law William Duncombe. Hughes (1678?–1720), writer, editor, translator and librettist, was associated with the Steele-Addison circle of wits and contributed articles to the Tatler and Spectator. His translation of..... Read More about Poems on Several Occasions. With Some Select Essays in Prose

London: W. Strahan and T. Cadell, 1775. First edition, first issue, with 12-line errata and with "afford" on p. 199, l. 13. The scarce first printing. "I had desired to visit the Hebrides ... and was ... induced to undertake the journey, by finding in Mr. Boswell a companion ....... Read More about A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland

London: Printed for W. Strahan and T. Cadell in the Strand, 1776. First collected edition, one of 750 copies. UNCUT. Four tracts, the most famous is 'Taxation no Tyranny; An Answer to the Resolutions and Address of the American Congress [1775]' pp. 169-264. Read More about Political Tracts. Containing, The False Alarm. Falkland's Islands. The Patriot; and, Taxation No...

London: Printed for B. Lintot …, 1722. First Edition. Pope wrote the magnificent dedication here, “To the Right Honorable Robt. Earl of Oxford,” and issued the poems after his friends death, receiving £15 for them from Lintot. Read More about Poems on Several Occasions … and Published by Mr. Pope

London: Bernard Lintott, 1712. First edition. First Appearance of The Rape of the Lock. First edition of Lintott's Miscellany containing the first printing of Pope's "The Rape of the Lock" in its shorter two-canto form. Five poems carry Pope's name, though "The Rape of the Lock" was published anonymously. The..... Read More about Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. By Several Hands

London: R. Faulder, 1780. First edition. Eloisa to Abelard Parody. Scarce parody of Pope's Eloisa to Abelard by the hack poet and physician John Matthews (1755-1826). "John "Matthews was a man of versatile disposition and generous tastes, which frequently left him at a financial loss. His works were published anonymously..... Read More about Eloisa en Dishabillé, being a New Version of That Lady's Celebrated Epistle to Abelard, Done...

London: printed by L[awton] G[illiver] and sold by A. Dodd, E. Nutt, 1733. First edition, first issue (no comma after "Pope" on title). The first effort in Pope's series of loose translations and reworkings of Horatian satires and epistles, his Imitations of Horace (1733-8). “[T]hrough the enabling example of Horace..... Read More about The First Satire of the Second Book of Horace … Imitated in a Dialogue Between Alexander Pope...

London: L. Gilliver, 1737 [but 1738]. First edition. Pope's imitation of Horace's poem on the art of living well. Rare for Pope, a bibliographically straightforward book. Read More about The Sixth Epistle of the First Book of Horace Imitated