8vo. In two volumes. [2], vi, 352; [4], vi, 353pp, [1]. Contemporary calf-backed marbled boards, contrasting red morocco lettering-piece. Rubbed, joints split, without Vol. II lettering-piece. Endpapers browned, occasional spotting.

The collected verse of John Byrom (1692-1763), a prolific and competent poet who is nonetheless primarily remembered as the creator of a popular system of shorthand that was swiftly adopted by, among others, Horace Walpole. Byrom spent many years teaching his system to pupils who were sworn to secrecy and inducted into what was arguably facetiously termed his Societas Tachygraphica ('Speedwriting Society'). A 1742 act of parliament gave Byrom sole rights to the system for 21 years; though it was not until publication of The Universal English short-hand in 1767 that it was made available to the public at large. The subjects of Byrom's poetry are eclectic, they include 'On Inoculation, when it first began to be practiced in England', and 'The Beau and the Bedlamite', a three stanza comic composition in which a patient of Bedlam confronts a young gentlemen in confusion as to why he would carry a sword. A large paper issue was published concurrently.