HESPERIDES: OR THE WORKS BOTH HUMANE AND DIVINE OF ROBERT HERRICK, ESQ. [2 volumes. From the series: The British Poets] by Herrick, Robert - 1856

Boston: Little, Brown, & Co., 1856. Two volumes, issued as part of the series, "The British Poets," and with the spine titles thus, but complete in and of themselves. 16mo. xxii, 340 and xxv, 298 pages, plus frontispiece portrait in vol. I. 4-page ads in vol. I before front free endpaper. Original dark brown cloth stamped in gilt and blind. [17.4 cm]. Small chips to spine ends, corners worn, slight spotting to cover of vol. II. Name on front pastedowns. Frontispiece foxed; offsetting to first title page; occasional light foxing internally; light soiling to text of one page in vol. I, not affecting legibility. Good plus. Reprint of the Riverside edition of 1854. "In this reprint of Herrick's Poems we have followed, in most respects, the Edition published by Pickering in 1846, which is a nearly exact copy of the First Edition of the Hesperides, issued in 1648. We have, however, endeavoured to render these volumes easier reading by rectifying the absurd punctuation ... A very few unusual words have been explained in foot-notes. In cases where the text seemed suspicious, we have referred to the First Edition, and have thus been enabled to correct a few trifling mistakes ... " --editor's "Advertisement," p. [iii]. Robert Herrick (1591-1674) was a lyric poet best known for his collection, "Hesperides," which was "the only effort by an important English poet to publish his entire œuvre in one organized collection." --DNB. It includes "To the Virgins, to Make Much of Time", which features the famous line: "Gather ye rosebuds while ye may.