1st edition. 1695 Prince Arthur An Heroick Poem In Ten Books, Blackmore. London

First edition of Sir Richard Blackmore's Prince Arthur, 1695, which he later followed with King Arthur. This was Blackmore's attempt to reconcile Arthur to a mixture of nationalistic and Christian traditional traditions, in a heroic poetry epic. The work met with great initial success, with a quick second and third edition following, but then fell from favor.

A humanistic crowd of authors attacked Blackmore, and the work, even causing Dr. Johnson to remark, "Blackmore, by the unremitted enmity of the wits, whom he provoked more by his virtue than his dullness, has been exposed to worse treatment than he deserved".

This copy has the first edition's title page (no mention of an edition; the second and third stated their edition) and the first edition's errata (at last page of prefatory pages; in the second edition it was moved to the rear).

Someone added the later edition's Index to the rear of this copy, but it's of a different paper stock and clearly added.

There are three manuscript annotations within the work, in an old hand with faded ink, that are critical of the work; interestingly, the annotations do quote Pope's famous criticism "He (Blackmore) only rumbles to his chariot's wheels."

About Prince Arthur -

The poem was based on the form of Virgil's The Aeneid and the subject matter of Geoffrey of Monmouth's Historia Regum Britanniae. It told of the Celtic King Arthur opposing the invading Saxons and taking London, which was a transparent encoding of William III opposing the "Saxon" James II and taking London. John Dennis derided the poem as being "servile" in its treatment of Geoffrey of Monmouth and having an inconsequential and fearful hero. Nevertheless, it went through three editions and William made Blackmore physician-in-ordinary (a position he would hold with Queen Anne as well), gave him a gold medal, and knighted him in 1697.

About Richard Blackmore M.D. -

Sir Richard Blackmore (1654 –1729), English poet and physician, is remembered primarily as the author of epic poetry, but he was also a respected medical doctor and theologian.

Bibliographic Details -

Universal Short Title Catalogue (USTC) number 3129701, not rare, found in many of the World's best libraries.

English Short Title Catalogue number R23258.

Physical Attributes -

Measures approx. 31.5 x 20 x 3 cm. Leather binding, tooled in the Cambridge style (double blind frame of double fillet with corner florets). Spine with five raised bands; title/author in gilt on red morocco in one compartment, year at the base of the spine, also in gilt, four compartments with a central blind floret stamp. All edges sprinkled red.

Pages - xx (10 leaves), 1-296, 2 leaves of index added from a different edition

Collation - not signed 2, A2, a-c2, B4-Z4, Aa-Pp4, 2 leaves of index added from a different edition

Condition -

See pictures. Front and rear joint cracked. Evidence of previous joint repair. Corners worn. Boards with a little rubbing. A little chipping at head and tail of spine. Older but refreshed endpapers.

Title page with initial at top edge, ghosting of facing pages imperfection at top edge and another of preceding page crease at fore-edge, dog-eared and with thumbing. Text block lightly toned throughout. One very small worm hole just at top-edge. Some creases in pages. Preface leaf c1 with marginal annotation. A little darkening just at top-edge. From C2 to end, a moisture mark at bottom corner, closer to front sometimes reaching into text. C3 with an ink spill/smudge near bottom, text readable. Occasional thumb. H2 with a rust or ink spot. Ember spot at top of I4. Occasional small chip at bottom edge. X2v marginal annotation. Bottom corner of X3 seems trimmed. Mm4 with 5" tear from top-edge. Inscription on last page, Pp4.

Someone added the later index to the rear.