The Poetical Works of Henry Brooke, Esq., Author of Gustavus Vasa, Fool of Quality, &c., in four volumes octavo. Revised and corrected by the original manuscript; with a portrait of the author, and his life, by Miss Brooke. The third edition. by Henry Brooke - 1792

This is an uncommon 18th century four-volume set of the works of Irish novelist, playwright, and poet Henry Brooke. Nine inches tall, in its original plain pale blue wrappers. Printed in Dublin in 1792; xxvi, 405; 379; 345; 414 pp.

These volumes contain the following works:

Vol. 1: Jack the Giant queller, an opera. The contending brothers, comedy. The female officer: a comedy. The marriage contract, a comedy. Ruth: An Oratorio. [Miscellaneous poems] The fox-chase. Redemption.

Vol. 2: Universal beauty: A philosophical poem. Jerusalem delivered; An epic poem: Translated from the Italian of Torquato Tasso. Constantia: Or, the Man of Law's Tale, modernized from Chaucer, to which is now added The Tale, as written by Chaucer; taken from the accurate edition of the Canterbury Tales;

Vol 3: [Tragedies] The impostor. The Earl of Westmorland. Cymbeline. Montezuma.

Vol 4: Fables: The Temple of Hymen; The Sparrow and the Dove; The Female Seducers; Love and Vanity. The last speech of John Good, vulgarly called Jack the Giant-Queller. Gustavus Vasa . . . A Tragedy. The Earl of Essex: A Tragedy. Conrade: A Fragment.

As the photos should show, these volumes' rudimentary bindings are in poor condition, and the leaves' uncut edges show varying degrees of soiling. The interiors, however, are in very good condition, save for the first five leaves of Vol. IV, which show a small stain, of diminishing size, at the foot. Overall a very readable, complete example of this set uncommonly seen for sale.