8vo. vii, [1], 320pp. With an engraved portrait frontispiece. Handsomely bound by Hayday in richly gilt-tooled dark green morocco, A.E.G. A trifle rubbed. Armorial bookplate of Francis Ferns to FEP, lightly foxed.

A sumptuously bound copy of Samuel Rogers's (1763-1855) most renowned poetry collection, inspired by an excursion to Italy in 1815. First printed anonymously in 1822, at the author's own expense, the work was poorly received; Roger's had the unsold copies destroyed and undertook extensive revisions - issuing a lavishly illustrated edition in 1830 which prover critically and commercially successful. Upon the death of Wordsworth, Rogers would be offered, though decline, the position of Poet Laureate.