CLARE, John. Poems descriptive of rural life and scenery. London: Taylor and Hessey. 1820.
8vo. Original paper-covered boards, remnants of paper label to spine; pp. viii, xxiv, 220. [4, ads]; front hinge tender, previous woner's signature to half title, very good. Provenance: front pastedown with the bookplate of Leonard Clark (1905-1981), poet.
Second edition. Scarce in original binding. This was Clare's first and most popular volume of poetry. The roughly seventy pieces in this collection look at rural life from the perspective of the labourer, and so introduce an anti-pastoral vein into nineteenth century bucolic verse.
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