Books

First edition. [iv], 296; [iv], 309, [3, ads] pp., with half-titles. 8vo. First edition of perhaps Coleridge s most influential work a jumble of autobiography, philosophy, criticism, and satire. The Biographia Literaria grew from Coleridge s increasing estrangement from the poetics of Wordsworth, and as early as 1800 Coleridge began planning the work. Coleridge saw his book as a response to Wordsworth s Poems of 1815, and even instructed his printer to mimic the size and type of Wordsworth s book. He wrote the entire work in only 3 and a half months during the summer of 1815, suffering from exhaustion and opium addiction, and scrambling to supply enough material to fill out a balanced two-volume set. The rushed pace and strain of composition has been suggested as a possible cause of the several examples of plagiarism from Schelling, Kant, Maass, and Jacobi borrowings first discovered by De Quincey in 1834. Ashley I, p. 205; Wise, Coleridge 40; Tinker 699. Provenance: contemporary marginalia in pencil throughout and ms index on rear blank; K.M. Chapman (pencil inscription, 1915, on flyleaf); John Davidson (bookplate) Contemporary half calf and marbled boards. Rebacked, preserving most of original spine, some spotting to text [iv], 296; [iv], 309, [3, ads] pp., with half-titles. 8vo.