Samuel Butler; Dr. Grey — Hudibras

London, Charles and Henry Baldwyn, 1819. Hardback. A large paper edition of Samuel Butler's satirical heroic poem, bound here in six volumes with notes by Zachary Grey. New edition, corrected and enlarged. A large paper subscriber's copy of Samuel Butler's 'Hudibras', with notes by Zachary Grey (Dr. Grey), an English priest, controversialist and conservative spokesman for the Church of England. With a small cutting to the front pastedown of Vol I Part I labelling this set as No. 182.Complete in three volumes bound across six. In contemporary paper covered boards. Illustrated with in-text woodcuts throughout. Written in a mock-heroic style, 'Hudibras' follows the humiliating defeats of titular Cromwellian knight and colonel in the New Model Army, set in the last years of the Interregnum (around 1658-60). The poem enjoyed a long history of consistent publication and popularity, understandably liked among adherents of Jacobitism, including one of the main leaders of the 1745 rising.This edition from Dr. Grey features a vast array of notes fuelled by his elaborate background knowledge of the Civil War. However, this edition engendered a new quarrel. William Warburton had supplied some notes for the edition to a mutual friend, and Warburton claimed that the notes were used without explicit permission, and Warburton said that the edition was an "execrable heap of nonsense."This copy bound as such: Volume I Part I - With an engraved title plate and one additional plate. Volume I Part II - Sixteen pages of 'Translations of Hudibras' dated December 1818 preceding the continuation of the poem. With an engraved portrait frontispiece of Butler, one additional plate titled of 'Butler's Monument' and a facsimile autograph. Volume II Part I - With an engraved portrait frontispiece of William Lilly and an engraved title plate.Volume II Part II - With an engraved plateVolume III Part I - With an engraved portrait frontispiece of Dr. Zachary Grey and engraved title plate.Volume III Part II - With an engraved plate titled 'Butler's Tenement' preceding the text.Collated, complete.With publisher's advertisements of upcoming publications bound-in to the front of three volumes. In contemporary paper covered boards, with paper spine labels. Externally, worn, with spotting to the boards and fading to the spines. Front board detached to Vol III Part II, but present, resulting in back strip coming away to the front joint. Cracks and splits to the joints, the majority of which are starting, but firm. Tail of backstrip to Vol II Part I coming away. Significant loss to the spine of Vol II Part II. Bookplate of one James Wadmore to the front pastedowns. Internally, generally firmly bound. Pages are generally bright, with a few scattered spots, largely concentrated to the first and last few leaves and to the plates. Bookplate of one James Foster Wadmore tipped-in to the front free endpapers. Tide marks to the page preceding the first plate of Vol III Part II. Fair . Ill.: Not Stated. Fair .