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

Edinburgh: printed for William Creech, February 5, 1785-January 6, 1787. First edition of all issues except issues 1 & 2 (third ed), and issues 3-5 & 7 (second edition). Complete run of all 101 issues published. The Lounger and an earlier journal edited by Mackenzie, The Mirror (1779-80), were "the..... Read More about The Lounger. A Periodical Paper, published at Edinburgh in the Years 1785 and 1786

London: Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, 1794. First edition, with half-titles. "An ambitious work, recalling in its preface her own Welsh origins, it specifically addressed itself to those who, like her husband, found English taxing ... Its discriminating definitions and characteristic excursions offer real insights into an eighteenth-century..... Read More about British Synonymy; or, An Attempt at Regulating the Choice of Words in Familiar Conversation

[London: s.n, n.d., ca. 1718]. First separate edition. The first separate printing of Aaron Hill's Preface in reply to Alexander Pope's criticism of his Northern-Star, a poem published in 1718 and dedicated to Peter the Great of Russia. "Hill had, apparently through Lintot, asked Pope's opinion of The Northern Star..... Read More about The Preface to Mr. Pope

London: T. Cooper, 1737. First edition. With second state of p. 21 with catchword "38 Charles" and press-marks iii-2, iv-†, 3-†, 6-3, 9-4, 10-1, 15-†, 17-4, 19-4, 22-1 corresponding to Todd's edition A. Read More about The First Epistle of the Second Book of Horace, Imitated

London: J. Wright for J. Knapton, et al; J. and P. Knapton, C. Bathurst, and R. Dodsley, 1737; 1741. First authorized edition of the letters, quarto issue, with first letter in vol. I incorrectly dated 1724. The first authorized edition of Pope's letters, though "the letters are a reprint of..... Read More about Letters of Mr. Alexander Pope, and Several of His Friends; The Works of Mr. Alexander Pope, in Prose

London: W. Bowyer, for Bernard Lintot; J. Wright for Lawton Gilliver, 1717; 1735. First editions, quarto issue, first issue without Tonson in imprint. First edition of the two-volume Works, uniformly bound. Like Pope's Homer, the Works were issued in quarto, folio and large folio formats. Griffith notes eleven pieces first..... Read More about The Works [with] … Volume II