The Poetical Works of William Cowper,

Fine edition with steel-engravings and gauffered edges

A charming edition of the poems of Englishman William Cowper, who was known for his contribution to naturalistic and introspective poetry. He was also a significant figure in the anti-slavery movement, and in some of his poems he condemned the dehumanisation of enslaved Africans. Not unlike other social reformers of the 18th century, he adopted evangelical christianity.However, after experiencing a religious crisis in the 1770s, he attempted to distance himself from his earlier beliefs.

12mo (170 x 110 mm); 20 steel-engraved plates including portrait frontispiece and vignette to title, minor spotting to plates; red pebble grain morocco, covers panelled in blind, centrepieces in blind, spine lettered in gilt, all edges gilt and gauffered, extremities slightly rubbed, otherwise very good; [xii], 492pp.