Collected Works of Edwin Waugh: Rambles in the Lake Country; Lancashire Sketches; Poems and Songs; Tufts of Heather; Besom Ben Stories; The Chimney Corner. In Seven Volumes.

Manchester : John Heywood, c1900. Cloth. Good. 7.5" by 5.5". None. A collection of the works of Edwin Waugh in seven volumes. Including sketches, poems and songs, and novels: Rambles in the Lake Country and Other Travel Sketches; with a Frontispiece, a foldout map, and fifteen plates; collated, complete. Lancashire Sketches in Two Volumes, First Series and Second Series; with a Frontispiece and vignette illustrations throughout in Vol I, and vignette illustrations throughout in Vol II. Poems and Songs; with a Preface and an Introductory Essay on the Dialect of Lancashire, Considered as a Vehicle for Poetry; with a Frontispiece, vignettes throughout, and five plates; collated, complete. Tufts of Heather; Second Series only; with a Frontispiece and vignette illustrations throughout. Besom Ben Stories; with a Frontispiece and vignette illustrations throughout. The Chimney Corner; with a Frontispiece and vignette illustrations throughout. Edwin Waugh (1817 Rochdale – 1890 New Brighton), poet, son of a shoemaker, was born in Rochdale, Lancashire, England and, after a little schooling, apprenticed to a printer, Thomas Holden, at the age of twelve. While still a young man he worked as a journeyman printer, travelling all over Britain, but eventually returned to his old job in Rochdale. By 1860 he was able to become a full-time writer but by 1881 he was in poor health and was granted a Civil List pension of £90 p.a. His best work was, perhaps, his Lancashire dialect songs, collected as Poems and Songs (1859), which brought him great local fame. He was possessed of considerable literary gift, and has been called "the Lancashire Burns." In blue cloth bindings with gilt title detailing to the front boards and spine, and a blind stamped design to the rear boards. Externally, all are generally smart with some shelfwear; lightly rubbed in places, with bumping to the extremities and marks to boards. The hinges are strained on Rambles and Tufts, and Lancashire Sketches, the front of Poems and Songs, and the rear of Chimney Corner. The hinges are tender on Besome Ben, the front of Lancashire Vol II, rear of Poems and Songs, and front of Chimney Corner. Internally, the bindings in all are strained, and tender in places. The pages are generally bright and clean with scattered spotting, and light foxing to the endpapers on most volumes; with apparent offsetting to the endpapers in Lancashire Sketches, Poems and Songs, and Besome Ben. With a little loss to the foldout map in Rambles; some unopened pages to the rear of Lancashire Vol I; and a small ink stain to the front free endpaper of Poems and Songs. All have a blind stamp of Lupton Bro's to the front free endpaper. Good