Reliques Of Ancient English Poetry Percy, Thomas 18Th Century British Literature,Classics

First Edition. A collection of ballads, songs, sonnets, and romances that captivated the British public, and influenced many of the most notable authors over the subsequent century. Walter Scott ready Percy's Reliques in his youth, stating "and henceforth I overwhelmed my schoolfellows, and all who would hearken to me, with tragical recitations from the ballads of Bishop Percy." (Millgate, Walter Scott: the Making of a Novelist, 1987; Mahoney, Some Antiquarian and Literary Influences of Percy's Reliques, 1964). The work is also attributed to influencing Wordsworth, Coleridge, Carroll, and Wilde. (Groom, The Making of Percy's Reliques, pg. 3). Groom even declares Reliques as "the seminal, epoch-making work of English Romanticism." 8vo. 3 vols. xxiii, [9, errata, ad, contents, binder note], 344pp.; [4], iv, 384pp., [2]; [4], iv, xxiv, 346pp., includes engraved frontispiece, engraved sheet of music (at end of vol. 2), half-titles to vols. 2 and 3, and numerous engraved vignettes throughout. ESTC T84936 (our copy also contains at p.224 of vol. 3, eight leaves, paged [225]-[240], containing a ballad entitled "George Barnwell"). Good plus in contemporary rebacked leather with some edgewear, few short closed tears, endpapers with light chipping, staining to pastedowns, prior owner bookplate and ink signatures, light to moderate foxing in various places.