1858 Rare Victorian Book - JOAN OF ARC and Minor Poems, Ballads by Robert Southey

 

Author : Southey, Robert
Title : JOAN OF ARC and Minor Poems, Ballads. With illustrations by John Gilbert.
Publisher : London, George Routledge & Co, 1858. 
Language : Text in English
Size : 7 " X 4,5 "
Pages : xxiv-469 pages
Binding : Very good original leather binding with an attractive decorative paneling (hinges fine, slightly worn, soiled and scuffed) under a protective removable mylar cover. 
Content : Very good content (tight, some foxing and staining, signature of a previous owner on first endpaper). 
Illustrations : Including beautiful illustrations by Gilbert.  Frontispiece and other illustrations still with their protective tissue guards intact.

The book : Rare and attractive illustrated edition of Joan of Arc -- an epic poem composed by Robert Southey. The idea for the story came from a discussion between Southey and Grosvenor Bedford, when Southey realised that the story would be suitable for an epic. The subject further appealed to Southey because the events of the French Revolution were concurrent to the writing of the poem and would serve as a parallel to current events. Eventually, Samuel Taylor Coleridge helped rewrite parts of the poem. Later editions removed Coleridge's additions along with other changes.

The Author : Robert Southey (12 August 1774 – 21 March 1843) was an English poet of the Romantic school, one of the Lake Poets along with William Wordsworth and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and England's Poet Laureate for 30 years from 1813 until his death in 1843. Although his fame has been eclipsed by that of Wordsworth and Coleridge, his verse still enjoys some popularity.