ELEONORA: A PANEGYRICAL POEM DEDICATED TO THE MEMORY OF THE LATE COUNTESS OF ABINGDON

London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1692. FIRST EDITION. 216 x 167 mm. (8 1/2 x 6 1/2"). 4 p.l., 24 pp.
Later plain brown paper boards, smooth dark red morocco spine with title, author, and date in gilt. Pastedown with book label of Marion C. Walker; verso of title and one other leaf with small ink stamp of the Selbourne Library. Macdonald 29; ESTC R1595; Pforzheimer 324. ◆Paper evenly toned throughout, but fresh, and a clean, appealing copy inside and out.

At the Revolution, when Dryden lost his positions of Poet Laureate and Historiographer Royal, he was more than usually compelled to accept remunerative literary projects like this panegyric, written about a lady and for a patron he had never met. According to Macdonald, "The countess, daughter of Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley, died on 31 May, 1691, but the poem 'betwixt ill health, some business, and many troubles' was not published till nearly a year later." Some have suggested that much of Dryden's genius was lost to his public because of the constraints of making ends meet with poems like this one, but it is testimony both to his poetic powers and stamina that he was able to infuse even wholly commercial work with beauty and dignity. Our copy once belonged to Hugh Selbourne (1906-73), a respected Manchester physician and a passionate bibliophile with a notable library strong in the sciences. He was the owner of virtually all of Robert Boyle's works, and his care in choosing copies is reflected in the fact that his first printing of "The Sceptical Chymist" sold at Bonham's in 2015 for a remarkable £362,500..