THE POETICAL WORKS. Containing, The Shade of Plato, Knight and Quack, and the Subtlety of Foxes
Boston: Published by Etheridge and Bliss, Oliver & Munroe, Printers, 1806. 12mo. 180 x 105 mm., [7 x 4 1 4 inches]. [xvi], 17 -164 pp; plus 2 pp. ads. Bound in contemporary brown sheep skin, red leather label; some minor rubbing to the joints, head of spine missing. Stamped “Ex Libris Wilson H. Kimnach” on front pastedown. Some discoloration of the preliminary leaves and minor spotting in the text. With faults a very good copy in original American binding. The first nine pages is a sketch of the author’s life by the publisher followed by “The Shade of Plato Defense of religion, Morality, and Government. A Poem in Four Parts.” David Hitchcock (b. 1773) was born in Litchfield County, Connecticut and was a shoemaker by trade. This is his only poem and it “has been thought to possess considerable merit. . .” His biography which appears in Appleton’s Cyclopaedia reads in part, “His principal poem, “The Shade of Plato” (Boston 1806), is written with ease and smoothness, and closes with expostulations on the revolutionary principles in vogue at the beginning of the century.” Wegelin American Poetry 991. Stoddard and Whitesell 817. Allibone, Austin. A Critical Dictionary of English Literature, Vol I, p. 351. Appleton’s Cyclopaedia of American Biography, Vol III, p. 216. JT/DSC* (1080). Item #67858
Price: $250.00