The Poetical Works Of William Shenstone
With The Life Of The Author And A Description Of The Leasowes.
Printed for W. Suttaby: London 1804 1st Edition In This Format
"This 1804 pocket-sized edition brings together the complete poetical works of William Shenstone, accompanied by a biographical sketch of the author and a descriptive account of The Leasowes, the celebrated landscaped estate that became inseparable from his literary reputation. Shenstone's poetry, particularly his elegies, pastorals, songs, and moral pieces, is marked by a refined simplicity and a deep attachment to rural life, nature, and private reflection, standing at an important transitional point between Augustan classicism and early Romantic sensibility. His verse favours clarity, emotional restraint, and moral reflection, qualities that earned him admiration among eighteenth-century readers seeking elegance without excess.
The accompanying Life of the Author provides valuable insight into Shenstone's character, education, and literary aims, while the description of The Leasowes documents one of the most influential early examples of the English landscape garden. Shenstone's estate became a cultural destination in its own right, visited and described by contemporaries as a physical expression of his poetic ideals, blending art, nature, and sentiment. The inclusion of a frontispiece engraving further enhances the charm of the volume, reinforcing its appeal as both a literary and visual artefact of the period.
Issued in original aged leather bindings and produced in a small, pocket-sized format, this edition reflects the early nineteenth-century taste for portable poetry volumes intended for private reading and travel. Its compact size, combined with the completeness of the text and the presence of the frontispiece, makes it a particularly attractive survival. This book would appeal especially to collectors of eighteenth- and early nineteenth-century English poetry, admirers of pastoral and pre-Romantic verse, and those interested in the literary and garden history surrounding The Leasowes."
