8vo. xii, 345pp, [1]. Contemporary richly gilt-tooled red morocco, A.E.G. Rubbed, spine dulled. Scattered spotting. William St Clair's copy, with his distinctive pencilled ownership inscription and manuscript note to recto of FFEP.

A selection of English poetry compiled by Leigh Hunt (1784-1859), including an introductory essay titled 'An answer to the question, "What is poetry?"'. Hunt's critical commentary accompanies work by Shakespeare, Spenser, Milton, and a range of Romantic poets.

William St Clair (1937-2021), British scholar and senior civil servant, notable as the author of The Godwins and the Shelleys, The Biography of a Family (1989) and The Reading Nation in the Romantic Period (2004).