THE VALE OF SLAUGHDEN, A POEM, IN FIVE CANTOS

Halesworth [Suffolk]: Printed and sold by T. Tippell, 1819. FIRST EDITION. 216 x 133 mm. (8 1/2 x 5 1/4"). xvi, [2], 116 pp.
Contemporary rose-pink calf decorated in gilt and blind, smooth spine with compartments densely diapered in gilt, two black morocco labels, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Front pastedown with engraved armorial bookplate of Sir Alfred Sherlock Gooch; verso of front free endpaper and half title with ink signature of Thomas Sherlock Gooch. ◆Joints a little rubbed at the top, leather a bit smudged and marked, minor intermittent foxing, but a clean and very fresh copy internally in a once very pretty binding that is still quite appealing.

Set in the ninth century on the coast of Suffolk ("between the sea and the river Ald"), this long-form poem tells the story of a brutal Danish invasion upon a Saxon village. As DNB tells us, the work "was first issued by subscription, but its success induced a London publisher, three months after its appearance, to undertake an edition for the public. In 1820 Nathan Drake in his Winter Nights . . . reviewed it at length, and claimed for Bird the same rank in literature as that attained by Robert Bloomfield," a working-class and self-educated writer like himself. A native of Suffolk, James Bird (1788-1839) trained as a miller, then became a bookseller and druggist (as well as the father of 16). According to DNB, "Much of Bird's early poetry indicates an intimate acquaintance with Dryden and Pope, and demonstrates the influence of Byron and Campbell, but his later work is in a more original style." This copy was owned by one of the original subscribers, Thomas Sherlock Gooch (1767-1851), whose family home was also located in Suffolk. This work is very rarely seen in the market, either at auction or advertised by dealers..