8vo. 30pp, [2]. With an engraved frontispiece dated May 1795 and terminal index. Bound by Proudfoot of Euston in contemporary gilt-tooled green calf. Marbled endpapers, carmine edges. Lightly rubbed and marked, slight surface wear to joints, boards sunned. Very occasional light spotting.

A late eighteenth century edition, previously sold by the circulating library at Cambridge, of English poet and dramatist John Gay's (1685-1732) Trivia (1716). The long poem, written in heroic couplets and modelled loosely off Virgil's Georgics, describes with mock-sincerity the author's advice for traversing the streets of London, addressing with overt seriousness the impending threats of pickpockets, wig-thieves, and the flying contents of chamber-pots. The engraved frontispiece, annotated with a short passage from page 26, provides a visual reference for Gay's ideal walking-outfit - a necessity for surviving London's pedestrian peril.