Collation: Portrait; A, four leaves; a-c, in fours; d-g, in twos; B-L2, in fours; Aa-Ss, in fours; Aaa-Xxx, in fours; 4A-4I, in fours; 5A-5X, in fours; 6A-6K, in fours; 6L, six leaves; 7A-7G, in fours; 8A-8C, in fours; *Dddddddd, two leaves; 8D-8F, in fours.
ROBERT HERRICK
(1591-1674)
29. Hesperides: | Or, | The Works | Both | Humane & Divine | Of | Robert Herrick Eſq. [Quotation, Printer's mark] London, | Printed for John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, | and are to be ſold at the Crown and Marygold | in Saint Pauls Church-yard. 1648.
A volume entitled "The seuerall Poems written by Master Robert Herrick" was entered by Master Crooke for license April 29, 1640, but was not published. The Hesperides was the first work of the poet to be printed, except some occasional contributions to collections of poems. It is dedicated in a metrical epistle to the most illustrious and most hopeful Charles, Prince of Wales, afterward Charles II.
The book is divided into two parts, the second having a separate title-page which reads: His | Noble Numbers: | Or, | His Pious Pieces, | Wherein (amongſt other things) | he ſings the Birth of his Christ: | and ſighs for his Saviours ſuffe- | ring on the Croſſe.| [Quotation] London. | Printed for John Williams, and Francis Eglesfield, 1647. |
This part was not issued, as far as is known, except with the Hesperides to which the author evidently intended it to be affixed, if we may judge by the lines toward the end of the first part: "Part of the work remains; one part is past."
The year of publication had seen Herrick dispossessed of his living at Dean Prior by the predominant Puritan party, and it has been suggested that he was glad to take this means of gaining an income. His use of the form, "Robert Herrick, Esquire," was, it is thought, a wise move on the part of the publishers, since a book by the "Reverend," or "Robert Herrick, Vicker" would have been less likely to meet with favor.