THE POEMS OF SIR PHILIP SIDNEY

First edition, first printing. Original dark blue cloth lettered in gilt to the spine, publisher's monogram in blind to the front panel, in dustwrapper. Frontispiece portrait of Philip Sidney. A near fine copy, the binding square and firm, the cloth and gilt fresh, the contents clean throughout. A few very light spots and marks to the page block. In the dustwrapper, a touch faded to the spine with a few nicks and short closed tears to upper edges. Clipped and repriced with the publisher's label to the lower front flap. An unusually sharp copy of the first printing of this seminal edition.

William Ringler's great edition of Sidney's poems remains the standard critical edition of these works and is unlikely to be superseded. Sidney didn't publish anything during his short life and the textual history of the poems is famously thorny. The edition gathers all the poems that can be safely attributed to Sidney (as well as work of doubtful, and erroneous, attribution) for which Ringler examined over a hundred manuscripts and editions, many previously unseen. The extensive commentary provides detailed accounts of composition, revision, and sources, with substantial introductory material provided for each poem or group of poems. The detailed introduction and commentary amount to a comprehensive account of Sidney's literary career, his personal associations, as well as his many formal and technical innovations. The volume includes poems from the 'Lady of May', the 'Old Arcadia', 'Certain Sonnets', 'Astrophel and Stella', and the Sidney Psalms.