12mo. [4], ii, 95pp, [1]. With a half-title. Uncut in original publisher's drab paper boards, later naively rebacked in cloth. Extremities worn and marked. Hinges exposed, later book-label of Robert Barr and partially erased ownership inscription to FEP, foxed, a trifle dusty.

The second London edition of printer and clergyman John Lawson's (1787-1825) melancholic verse. A member of the Baptist Missionary Society, Lawson travelled to the United States in 1810 then on to Calcutta in 1812 where, employing his knowledge as a former wood- engraver and a punch-cutter, he assisted in improving Chinese and Bengali types, teaching natives the methods of production.

The first edition of the present collection appeared in 1810, with a Philadelphia printed edition issued in 1811. A final edition was published by the Baptist Mission Press at Calcutta in 1826. Between the first and second London editions Lawson was ordained, becoming a pastor in Calcutta.

This progression does not appear to have altered his state of mind, at least in the form of his poetic output. He notes in the preface to this work that 'the measured adopted in the Maniac is that of the Wanderer of Switzerland' by Montgomery; the text itself suggests that the inspiration for the eponymous character, racked with depression, was perhaps found from his own life:

'When oppression's iron rod
Scourged me from my father's door-
When, led by the hand of God,
From my native friendless shore-
Darkness hovered all around,
Misery raised her gloomy crest:
Soon her dwelling place she found.
In my heart she built her nest'.