Lord Roldan, A Romance.
London: John Macrone, 1836
First edition. Three royal duodecimo volumes (overall 197 x 131 mm, the pages 193 x 120 mm). Contemporary half brown speckled calf over marbled boards by W. Pratt (his stamp on versos of front free endpapers), spines in six compartments with raised bands framed in gilt rules and rolls, gilt-lettered brown title and black volume labels in second and third compartments, gilt floral urn tool in others, top edges gilt, others rough cut, matching marbled cover papers and endpapers. Collates (vol. I) [2 ll.], 1 l. (half-title), 1 l. (title), 355, [1] pp., [2ll.]; (vol. II) [2 ll.], 1 l. (half-title), 1 l. (title), 346 pp., [2ll.]; (vol. III) [2 ll.], 1 l. (half-title), 1 l. (title), 340 pp., [2ll.]. Covers with light wear to spines, joints and edges, light distress to speckled leather, negligible browning and spotting to preliminaries.
Scott and Hogg were loud in praises of Cunningham’s poetry and songs, some counterfeited as ancient Scot, some offered without subterfuge. “Although Cunningham had repressed the wildness of his imagination in poetry, it still worked madly within him, and evidently required a safety-valve after being denied its legitimate outlet. No one can be doubtful of the fact who peruses [his romances Paul Jones, Sir Michael Scott and finally Lord Roldan]; for not only do they drive truth into utter fiction, but fiction itself into the all but unimaginable.” A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Scotsmen, ed. Robert Chambers and rev. Thomas Thomson, vol. I, pp. 416 and 414-7 (London: Blackie and Son, 1875).
Provenance: John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute (Mount Stuart
armorial bookplates on each front pastedown, handcolored with gold and silver).
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Price: $500
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