Another chap-book edition.
COWPER, William.—The diverting history of John Gilpin: showing how he went farther than he intended, and came safe home again. With six illustrations by George Cruikshank, Engraved on Wood by Thompson, Branston, Wright, Slader, and White. London: Charles Tilt . . . MDCCCXXVIII. Square 12mo, calf, gilt back, gilt top, uncut edges, with the original covers bound in, by Rivière.
COWPER, William.—The Task, a poem, in six books. By William Cowper, . . . To which are added, by the same author, An Epistle to Joseph Hill, Esq: Tirocinium, or a Review of Schools, and the History of John Gilpin. London: printed for J. Johnson, . . . 1785. 8vo, green levant morocco, gilt back, gilt top, uncut edges, by Bedford.
First edition of the "Task," and the first appearance of "John Gilpin" among Cowper's Works.
In a letter subsequent to April 22, 1785, Cowper wrote to Mr. Newton: "When I sent the copy of the Task to Johnson [his publisher], I desired, indeed, Mr. Unwin to ask him the question, whether or not he would choose to make it a part of the volume? This I did merely with a view to promote the sale of it. Johnson answered, 'By all means.' Some months afterward, he enclosed a note to me in one of my packets, in which he expressed a change of mind, alleging, that to print John Gilpin would only be to print what had been hackneyed in every magazine, in every shop, and at the corner of every street. I answered, that I desired to be entirely governed by his opinion; and that if he chose to waive it, I should be better pleased with the omission. Nothing more passed between us upon the subject, and I concluded that I should never have the immortal honour of being generally known as the author of John Gilpin. In the last packet, however, down came John, very fairly printed, and equipped for public appearance. The business having taken this turn, I concluded that Johnson had adopted my original thought, that it might prove advantageous to the sale; and as he had had the trouble and expense of printing it, I corrected the copy, and let it pass."—Southey's Life of Cowper, Volume II, pages 86-87.
Southey continues (page 96): "If Johnson had persisted in his first intention of excluding that ballad [John Gilpin] from the volume, because it had already been printed in so many forms and dispersed everywhere through town and country, he would have committed a greater mistake than when he suppressed Mr. Newton's preface. Upon second thoughts he not only admitted it, but specified it in the title-page and in the advertisement.". . .
"The first volume [Poems, 1782] had sold so slowly that it was not thought prudent to publish the Task and its appendants as a second; but the first, with a complete list of its contents, was advertised at the end of the book; and of the many who were induced to read the Task because it was written by the author of John Gilpin, not a few were led to inquire for the previous volume because it was by the author of the Task. In the second edition which was called for in the ensuing year, the two volumes were connected as first and second, and in the numerous editions that have succeeded each other they have never been disunited."
COWPER, William.—Poems, by William Cowper . . . A new Edition London: printed for J. Johnson . . . 1798. Foolscap 8vo, two volumes, sprinkled calf, gilt back, yellow edges, by Bedford.
Ten engravings on copper by Angus, Heath, Medland, Parker, and others, after the designs of Stothard, with a duplicate set coloured in imitation of the original drawings.
COWPER William.—Poems. 1798. Foolscap 8vo, two volumes, boards, uncut edges.