FIELDING, Henry (1707-1754); GAY, John (1685-1732); JOHNSON, Samuel [dramatist] (1691-1773); BRAMSTON, James (1694-1743); HIPPISLEY, John (d. 1748)

AN IMPORTANT AUGUSTAN SAMMELBAND, COMPRISING: Tom Thumb, A Tragedy [unrecorded early issue, see bibliographic note]; The Beggar's Opera [first edition]; Polly, An Opera [first edition]; Flora, An Opera [third edition]; Hurlothrumbo, or, The Super-Natural [first edition]; The Art of Politicks, in Imitation of Horace's Art of Poetry [first edition]

Various publishers (Tom Thumb = J. Roberts), London; 1728–1730

8vo, 203 x 125mm; 6 works bound in a single volume; various paginations.

A wonderfully rich sammelband, which begins with James Bramston's Horatian Art of Politicks, with an attractive frontispiece, runs through first or early editions of Flora, Hurlothrumbo, The Beggar's Opera and its sequel Polly, and concludes with an unrecorded early issue of Tom Thumb.

Bibliographic note: Henry Fielding's classic Tom Thumb was first published in April (24th or 25th) 1730 by the London stationer J. Roberts. The first edition was described by Fielding's bibliographer Wilbur Lucius Cross in only one issue (Cross, III, p. 291), though in fact four are now known. All are exceptionally scarce, with the most recent first edition selling in 2015 at Christie's for $18,750. The work was clearly in demand, and the text was swiftly revised; a new slightly longer version was performed on 7 May 1730, and a stated "Second Edition" was published shortly thereafter. The variants of the first edition, meanwhile, are mainly distinguished by differences in the title-page. The issue contained in the present sammelband is a novelty: it bears the title-page of Huntingdon 123351, which is a first edition; but what follows is the text of the second edition (as identified by additional scenes in Act 2). This sheds light on the sequence of issues/states of the first edition, strongly suggesting that the two states without a price on the title-page can be called 'first issue', the two that bear the price "6 Pence" or "6d" on the title-page (both known in single copies at the Huntingdon) can be called 'second issue', and the present version, with "6 Pence", no edition statement but the extended text, can be called 'third issue'. Evidently it is of the utmost rarity, and is also the most illuminating of all early issues in bibliographic terms, as it clearly marks a transition between the set of first issues and the stated second edition.

While The Art of Politicks is relatively common, and Flora is a third edition, both The Beggar's Opera and (especially) its sequel Polly are scarce first editions. (Note that both lack the printed music that is sometimes included – though often absent.)

The volume contains many of the high-points of Augustan satire. The wonderfully titled Hurlothrumbo, for example, is the work of Samuel 'Maggoty' Johnson, a dancing-master from Cheshire, who played the lead role – replete with stilts and a fiddle. In his Life of Henry Fielding, Frederick Lawrence writes of Hurlothrumbo that "A more curious or a more insane production has seldom issued from human pen." Gay's Beggar's Opera, meanwhile, is perhaps the most famous of all Augustan satires, and is still performed. The sequel, Polly, was considered too blatant a satire to be performed and was banned until its debut in 1777.

The volume retains its original board but has been attractively and very skilfully rebacked, probably in the late nineteenth century. It bears the armorial bookplate of William Henry Mason of Morton Hall, near Retford (who in 1918 became High Sherrif of Nottinghamshire). The corners are bumped, but the contents are generally in very good condition, noting only some browning and very occasional annotations and markings.

Contents in full, in the order in which they appear in the volume:

1. BRAMSTON, James (1694-1743), The Art of Politicks, in Imitation of Horace's Art of Poetry (London: Printed for Lawton Gilliver, 1728), first edition, pp. [2], 45, [4, catalogue for Lawton Gilliver], frontispiece

2. JOHNSON, Samuel [dramatist] (1691-1773), Hurlothrumbo, or, The Super-Natural (London: Printed for J. Jones, 1729), first edition, pp. vii, [1], 46, [2, epilogue]

3. HIPPISLEY, John (d. 1748), Flora, An Opera (London: Printed by T. Wood […] Sold by J. Roberts, 1729, third edition, pp. 32, 8 (engraved musical score)

4. GAY, John (1685-1732), The Beggar's Opera (London: Printed for John Watt, 1728), first edition, pp. [2], 58, [2, ads for J. Tonson and J. Watts, dated 10 Februar 1727]

5. Idem, Polly, An Opera (London: Printed for Jeffery Walker, n.d. [1728 or 1729]), first edition, pp. vii, [1], 70

6. FIELDING, Henry (1707-1754), Tom Thumb, A Tragedy (London: Printed and Sold by J. Roberts, 1730), pp. [8], 16