Merope. A Tragedy. London: Longman, Brown, Green, Longmans, & Roberts, 1858.
First edition.
Small octavo. lii, [1]-138, [2, publisher’s ads]. With a thirty-two page catalogue of publisher’s titles inserted at rear. Ads printed on paste-downs. Publisher’s full green cloth. Covers paneled and stamped in blind, spine ruled in blind and lettered in gilt. Some mild wear and spotting to covers and spine, bookseller’s small tag on front paste-down, small binder’s ticket on rear paste-down. A very good copy.
First edition. Publisher’s presentation copy, with their embossed Presentation stamp on the title-page and dedication page. Matthew Arnold (1822-1888) was an English poet and social critic and was known as the third great Victorian poet (after Tennyson and Robert Browning). Although he knew success in his career, he also received criticism (although he professed not to read Keats, much of his poetry is so similar to Keats’ style, that he is almost derivative). Arnold demonstrated his admiration of Greek literature and its “noble serenity†in dealing with a chaotic world in Merope, in which he re-interprets a traditional Greek tragedy, whilst experimenting with a range of unusual meters.
ID:
3423
$
250