Diary, Reminisences and Correspondence of Henry Crabb Robinson

1869. first edition. Very good. 16 23 4.5. Brown calf Spine and corners Marbled boards. Gilt tooling and title on Spine. Volumes I, II and III. Dimensions are for one volume. Henry Crabb Robinson (13 May 1775] – 5 February 1867) was an English lawyer, remembered as a diarist. He took part in founding London University. Robinson's Diary, Reminiscences and Correspondence was published posthumously in 1869. It contains reminiscences of central figures of the English romantic movement: including Coleridge, Charles Lamb, William Blake, William Wordsworth, and of other writers such as Sarah Burney. They are documents on the daily lives of London writers, artists, political figures and socialites. In his essay on Blake, Swinburne says, "Of all the records of these his latter years, the most valuable, perhaps, are those furnished by Mr. Crabb Robinson, whose cautious and vivid transcription of Blake's actual speech is worth more than much vague remark, or than any commentary now possible to give." In 1829 Robinson was made a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries (F.S.A.), and contributed a paper to Archæologia entitled "The Etymology of the Mass". His diaries were bequeathed to Dr Williams's Library, because Robinson had been a member of the Essex Street Chapel, the first avowedly Unitarian congregation in England.