8vo. 72pp. With a half-title. Finely bound in contemporary blind-stamped, gilt-tooled navy calf, contrasting red morocco lettering-piece, marbled edges, marbled endpapers. Lightly rubbed, marked, and sunned. Armorial bookplate of the Bridehead estate, Dorset, to FEP, very occasional spotting. Presentation copy, inked inscription to half-title: 'Robert Williams Esquire. From the author'.

The first edition of English publisher Francis Newbery's (1743-1818) collection of classical verse translations, inscribed to politician Robert Williams (1767-1847) of Bridehead, Dorset.

Newbery, the son of John Newbery, a publisher himself, was most notorious for facilitating the sale of his patented James's Fever Powder, the taking of which likely caused the death of his frequent publishing client, poet Oliver Goldsmith, in a failed attempt to treat a suspected kidney infection. In response, Newbery published a lengthy defence of his medicine in an attempt to bolster its reputation. Seemingly his only published poetry collection, much of the volume's content is formed of his translations of Horace's second book of Epistles; several of his lighter compositions were set to music by English composers William Crotch and John Callcott.