1827 Rare Edition ~ Night Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality by Edward Young

Author: Edward Young, D.D.
Title: The Complaint: or, Night Thoughts.
Publisher: London: Printed for John Sharpe, Duke Street, Piccadilly, 1827.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 5.5" x 3.5".
Pages: xii-322 pages.
Binding: Attractive and very good, beautiful contemporary full polished calf binding. The spine richly gilt in compartments with intricate floral and geometric tooling, red morocco title label lettered in gilt (“Young’s Night Thoughts”), double gilt fillet borders with decorative roll to the boards, gilt dentelles (hinges fine, overall slightly worn and scuffed - as shown) under a protective removable mylar cover. All edges marbled.
Content: Very good content (bright, tight and clean, some light foxing, toning and staining - as shown). 
Illustrations: Illustrated with a finely engraved frontispiece (“Lucifer adoring Christ,” engraved by C. Rolls after R.A. Westall) and multiple additional steel engravings by Richard Westall, R.A., throughout the text. Printed by C. & C. Whittingham, College House, Chiswick. (Complete).

Estimate: (USD 250 – 350).

The book: A splendid 1827 Sharpe edition of Edward Young’s Night Thoughts, one of the most celebrated meditative poems of the 18th century. First published between 1742 and 1745, The Complaint: or, Night Thoughts on Life, Death, and Immortality is a profound reflection on mortality, virtue, and the human soul’s yearning for the divine. This edition, elegantly printed and illustrated, exemplifies the refined style of early 19th-century English publishing—combining Sharpe’s craftsmanship with Westall’s romantic interpretation of Young’s metaphysical vision.

The engravings capture the poem’s solemn grandeur, its contrasts between light and darkness, and its moral intensity, offering an early Romantic sensibility that would influence Blake, Wordsworth, and Coleridge.

The author: Edward Young (1683–1765) was an English poet, dramatist, and clergyman whose magnum opus Night Thoughts secured his lasting reputation. Written after the deaths of his wife, step-daughter, and close friends, the poem fuses classical eloquence with Christian resignation, shaping the meditative tone of the English “Graveyard School.” His influence extended across Europe, inspiring both Goethe’s Werther and Blake’s celebrated illustrated edition.

The illustrator: Richard Westall, R.A. (1765–1836) was a leading English painter and book illustrator, best known for his graceful, neoclassical compositions and for being appointed drawing master to Queen Victoria. His engravings in this edition distill the moral pathos and sublime introspection of Young’s verse, uniting poetic melancholy with luminous serenity—a hallmark of Romantic religious art.