The Chronicles of Clovernook; With Some Account of The Hermit of Bellyfulle. London: Published at the Punch Office, 1847.
Octavo. [vi], 183 pp., with black and white frontispiece and two pages of publisher's ads. Bound by Riviere & Son in full tan calf, spine lettered, and elaborately tooled in gilt in compartments, covers triple ruled in gilt, gilt inner dentelles, all edges gilt. Publisher's cloth bound in at rear. Light rubbing to extremities, two corners lightly bumped, but still very good. Presentation copy, signed and inscribed by the author to John Payne Collier.
Early printing of this classic utopian fantasy, with an excellent association.
Collier (1789-1883), a British author and editor, is best remembered as the perpetrator of one of the most notorious literary forgeries in history. Collier was a respected scholar who claimed to have discovered previously unknown seventeenth-century materials relating to Shakespeare, as well as a copy of Shakespeare's Second Folio with extensive corrections and annotations in a seventeenth-century hand. Collier published his discoveries and incorporated the corrections into his next edition of Shakespeare's plays. Numerous scholars expressed doubt about the authenticity of the folio's annotations, and an examination by British Museum staff determined that they were indeed in a modern hand. Collier steadfastly denied any wrongdoing, but as years passed and more of Collier's 'discoveries' were found to be fraudulent, the world was left with little doubt of his guilt. Collier's many legitimate contributions to literary scholarship will forever be tainted by his forgeries.
Douglas William Jerrold (1803-1857) was a popular British playwright and journalist. Jerrold's mastery of witty repartee made his dramatic farces extremely popular. His best-known play, Black-Eyed Susan, was a phenomenal success which ran for 300 nights during its first production and remained a favorite throughout the nineteenth century. Jerrold's wit and radical liberal leanings helped him achieve even greater success as a journalist, and he was a key contributor to the renowned British humor magazine Punch. Jerrold was also a contemporary, collaborator, and close friend of both Thackeray and Dickens, both of whom served as pallbearers at his funeral.
Freeman, Arthur and Janet Ing, "Collier, John Payne (1789-1883), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography; Slater, Michael, "Jerrold, Douglas William (1803-1857), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
ID:
7380
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350