1859 Rare First Edition – Idylls of the King by Alfred Tennyson

Author: Alfred Tennyson, D.C.L., Poet Laureate.
Title: Idylls of the King.
Publisher: London: Edward Moxon & Co., Dover Street, 1859. First edition, first issue (back of title page blank, as called for).
Language: Text in English.
Size: 7" x 4.5".
Pages: 261 pages.
Binding: Very good publisher’s original green cloth binding, decorated in blind with ornate Victorian scrollwork to both boards, gilt title to spine (hinges fine, overall slightly worn and scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean, rare light foxing and toning - as shown, previous ownership inscription (“W. Heaton”) and a fine pictorial bookplate of Robert and Evelyn Benson (“Pour Dyeu et Ma Mye”) to the front pastedown -  as shown). 

Estimate: (USD 300–600).

The book: A rare and desirable first edition, first issue of Alfred Tennyson’s Idylls of the King (1859), his celebrated Arthurian cycle. This foundational volume contains the first four idylls — Enid, Vivien, Elaine, and Guinevere — and was published to immediate acclaim, selling over 10,000 copies in the first week alone. Its exploration of chivalry, morality, and the downfall of Camelot secured Tennyson’s place as the preeminent Victorian poet and profoundly shaped the 19th-century revival of Arthurian legend.

This copy, with its original blind-stamped cloth binding and the correct blank verso to the title page, represents the true first issue.

The author: Alfred, Lord Tennyson (1809–1892) was appointed Poet Laureate in 1850, succeeding William Wordsworth, and became one of the defining voices of the Victorian age. His poetry, blending lyric beauty with moral seriousness, spoke to the aspirations and anxieties of his century. With Idylls of the King, Tennyson offered not only a retelling of Arthurian legend but also a veiled reflection on the moral and social dilemmas of Victorian Britain, drawing enduring parallels between Camelot and the Empire.