MISCELLANIES IN PROSE AND VERSE BY LORD GARDENSTONE 1791

[GARDEN, Francis, Lord Gardenstone]. Miscellanies in Prose and Verse. Edinburgh: Printed by J. Robertson, South Bridge-Street, 1791.

First edition. Leather-bound. Hardcover. Octavo (180 x 100 x 25 mm). Pp. 7, [1], 240. Bound in contemporary half leather, smooth spine gilt decorated, marbled paper-covered boards, initial and terminal blanks present. Condition: FAIR to GOOD. Binding secure, however there is wear to the spine and joints, the covers somewhat rubbed. Interior with some toning but generally well-preserved. Scarce.

Notes: Extremely rare first edition. The text has a remarkable and eccentric source, being printed from copious marginal notes made by Lord Gardenstone in volumes kept at the residents' library he provided for the model village he founded at Laurencekirk, Kincairdshire. There are notes on plays, operas, farces as well as on publications such as Boswell's recent Life and Young's Night Thoughts. 'Gardenstone never married. He was a man of many peculiarities, one of which was an extreme fondness for pigs' (Oxford DNB). [Jackson, p. 176; ESTC T118510]. Bound with Samuel Johnson's A Journey to the Western Islands of Scotland, new edition, 1819 - included at the end.