LOT Old Heritage Auctions  /  2007 Apr Books, Manuscripts & Autographs #658  / 

25617

Three Outstanding Leigh Hunt Collections

Currency:USD Category:Books / Antiquarian & Collectible Start Price:150.00 USD Estimated At:600.00 - 800.00 USD
Three Outstanding Leigh Hunt Collections
<B>Three Outstanding Leigh Hunt Collections.</B></I> James Henry Leigh Hunt was born in England of American parents, forced to leave America due to their loyalist leanings. Leigh was a poet, newspaper editor and close friend of the Shelleys'. Hunt is best known for his poem "The Story of Rimini". He left for Italy in November 1821 at the invitation of Percy Bysshe Shelley and Lord Byron, in order to start a liberal quarterly magazine. Storm, sickness, and misadventure retarded his arrival until July 1, 1822, a rate of progress Thomas Love Peacock compared to the navigation of Ulysses. Shelley and another closed friend, Edward Williams sailed across the Bay of Spezia to welcome the Hunt family to Italy. After a week-long visit, on July 8, 1822, both men drowned during their return voyage. Mary Shelley's inscription in the copy of The Months offered in this auction was written four days after her husband's body was cremated at Viareggio. On September 11, Mary and her son Percy moved to Genoa and lived with the Hunts near Byron.<BR><BR>Leigh Hunt's life was fraught with mismanaged affairs, both legal and financial. In 1844, when Hunt found himself most wanting, Mary Shelley and her son Percy, having come into their inheritance, bestowed Leigh with an annuity of 120 pounds. In spite of his faults, Leigh Hunt was a consummate man of letters, and this lot offers three collections of Hunt's literary output.<BR><BR><B><I>Correspondence of Leigh Hunt</B></I>,</B></I> (London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1862), two volumes, Volume I: 333 pages, followed by 18 pages of advertisements; Volume II: 331 pages, reddish brown cloth binding with blind stamping on the boards and gilt lettering on spine, 8vo (5.25" x 8"), clear protective dust jacket on both volumes. Volume I is good, with general shelf wear, some rubbing to the gilt spine lettering, and the textblock has separated at page 224, with several loose leaves resulting. Volume II is also good, with textblock separated at page 80, with general shelf wear, including bumped edges. All leaves present for both volumes.<BR><BR><B>Four volume-set of <I>The Autobiography of Leigh Hunt</B></I></B></I> <I>with Reminiscences of Friends and Contemporaries, and with Thornton Hunt's Introduction and Postscript,</B></I> edited by Roger Ingpen (Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co., 1903), two parts with two volumes each, Volume I, Parts I & II: 260 pages; Volume II, Parts I & II: 315 pages, including appendices, bibliography and index, red cloth boards, deckled edges, top edge gilt, 8vo (6" x 8.75"), Illustrated with numerous engraved plates & facsimiles of correspondence. The four-volume set is generally very good, with minor shelf wear to the edges, boards, and spine. Gilt lettering is clear on the spines, and the binding is tight on all volumes. Very mild foxing present. The index in Volume II, Part II has been annotated in pencil by a previous owner. <I>Ex-Libris</B></I> bookplate present in both parts of Volume I. A very attractive set.<BR><BR><B><I>The Liberal, Verse and Prose from the South</B></I></B></I> <I>with Betty Bennett's Handwritten Notes,</B></I> (London: John Hunt, October 1822, and July 1823), second edition, two volumes, Volume I: 399 pages; Volume II: 377 pages, half-leather binding with marbled boards and endpapers, includes the preface to "The Vision of Judgment". <I>The Liberal</B></I> was founded by Percy Bysshe Shelley, Leigh Hunt and Lord Byron, who, with William Hazlitt, were the major contributors. This set is good, though the front board of each volume is detached and taped to the spine. The rear board of Volume II is also detached and taped. The boards of both volumes are rubbed, corners are bumped, with worn edges. Mild foxing present to the endpapers of both volumes. Dr. Bennett's pencil annotations identifying authors present in the table of contents of both volumes, making this a true treasure for any Shelley scholar or Shelley collector. <I>From the Betty Bennett Collection.</B></I><BR><BR><b>Shipping:</b> Books & Catalogs (<a target="_blank" href="http://www.heritageauctions.com/common/shipping.php">view shipping information</a>)
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