Samuel Butler — Hudibras

London, Charles and Henry Baldwyn, 1819. Leather. A lovely set of Bulter's brilliant political satire and mock heroic epic poem. A New Edition, corrected and enlarged. With Dr Grey's annotations. Illustrated titles to each volume, two frontispieces, and five plates. Numerous humorous vignette illustrations to the titles and in the text throughout, many with tissue guards. Sixteen pages of 'Translations of Hudibras' dated 1818 bound into the middle of volume I, the same first two pages of this at the end of volume II. Complete in three volumes. The work is a satirical polemic upon Roundheads, Puritans, Presbyterians and many of the other factions involved in the English Civil War. The work was begun, according to the title page, during the civil war and published in three parts in 1663, 1664 and 1678, with the first edition encompassing all three parts in 1684. Published only four years after Charles II had been restored to the throne and the Protectorate of Oliver Cromwell being completely over, the poem found an appreciative audience. Hudibras was an extremely popular work with pirate copies and a spurious second part being issued before Butler could produce his genuine second part in 1664. It was highly praised with Voltaire in his Letters on the English saying "I never found so much wit in one single book". The mock heroic epic and its jaunty verse form known as Hudibrastic became the standard of satire for some time after that with at least twenty-seven direct imitations being produced. Fifty years after the last part was written a new edition was published, with illustrations by William Hogarth, who later became one of the foremost artists of the day. The work remained popular for several centuries as a warning against the zealotry during the Civil War period of English history. Elegantly rebound in half calf with marbled boards. Externally very good, just a little shelfwear. Internally, firmly bound. Bright and generally clean, a few scattered spots, heavier to the plates. Large amount of off-setting from an unknown source to pages 360-61 of volume II. Very Good Indeed . Ill.: None. Very Good Indeed .