[DARWIN, Erasmus (1731-1802)]. The Poetical Works. Containing The Botanic Garden, in Two Parts, and The Temple of Nature. With Philosophical Notes and Plates. London :Printed for J. Johnson, St. Paul's Church-Yard, by T. Bensley, Bolt Court, Fleet Street., 1806.
Hardcover. Leather-bound. First edition. Complete in 3 volumes. Octavo (8 ̊)(215 x 130 mm.), vol. I: xx, 456 pages, [10] leaves of plates (1 folded, 1 color): frontispiece, portrait; vol. II: xvi, 282 pages, [12] leaves of plates (mostly color): frontispiece; vol. III: [8], 373, [1] pages: frontispiece. Signatures: vol. I: pi² A-2F⁸ 2G⁴; vol. II: A-S⁸ T⁴ U²; vol. III: [A]⁴ B-2A⁸ 2B⁴ ( -2B4). Contemporary calf, smooth spines gilt. Speckled page edges. Initial and terminal blanks present. With plates engraved after Fuseli, William Blake and others, a number of which are hand-coloured; 5 plates in vol. I were engraved by Blake and were originally published in the 4th ed. of The botanic garden, 1799 (Keynes 118). Each volume has an engraved frontispiece, with vol. I having an additional frontispiece portrait of the author. Frontispiece to vol. III, which contains no other plates, is included in register. Instructions to the binder regarding the positioning of the plates at foot of final page of vols. I and II. Imprint noted in each volume: T. Bensley, printer, Bolt Court, Fleet Street, London. The additional notes at the end of vol. I include a description of the Portland Vase. "The botanic garden. Vol. I. Containing the economy of vegetation, a poem. With philosophical notes" has divisional half-t.p. on leaf A6r of vol. I. "The botanic garden. Vol. II. Containing the loves of the plants" has divisional half-t.p. on leaf A7r of vol. II. "The temple of nature" has divisional half-t.p. on leaf [A]4r of vol. III. "Origin of society. Canto I. Production of life", "Origin of society. Canto II. Reproduction of life", "Origin of society. Canto III. Progress of the mind" and "Origin of society. Canto IV. Of good and evil" each have divisional half-t.p. on leaves B1r, D7r, G5r and K6r respectively of vol. III. Condition: FAIR to GOOD. Collated complete. The bindings somewhat worn with some hinges starting but I'll holding very well. Covers with some rubbing to extremities, there are also some marks and abrasions to the boards, spine title plates eroded. The textblock is largely well preserved, however there are various amounts of toning and browning in places, the plates are complete and in good order. Each volume has the armorial bookplate of Michael Pepper to the front pastedown. Volumes I& II title-pages have some inking from the first owner. Scarce.
Notes: First edition of this posthumous collection placing Darwin's exuberant and eccentric inquiry into the Linnaean system in rhyming couplets alongside his poetic speculations on evolution, the whole much enlivened by numerous plates including a number by Blake and Fuseli. A handsome Regency binding from the library of Michael Pepper of Bigods Manor, Essex. Darwin's reputation declined rapidly at the turn of the nineteenth century, attacked as a crank, certainly an atheist, and perhaps a spy, and has never really recovered. In her argument for a revival, Jenny Uglow, historian of the Lunar society, one of the three learned societies of which Darwin was a founder member, speaks vividly in favour of the work of this "polymathic genius"; "Arching between two eras, it was a final exuberant flowering of Enlightenment experiment and optimism but also a glittering treasure trove of images and ideas for the coming Romantic generation, plundered by Shelley, Coleridge, Wordsworth. Four thousand lines of rhyming couplets humming above thickets of footnotes, with engravings by Blake, Fuseli and others. With wit and sly humour it mixed poetry, science and startling radical notions: a sheaf of "Additional Notes" explored everything from meteors to Wedgwood's Portland vase, from clouds and coal to shell-fish and steam-engines. Most disturbing of all to contemporaries was the hint of a new theory of biological evolution - 50 years before his grandson Charles published Origin of Species" ("Sexing the Plants", the Guardian, 21/09/2002). Uncommon in such an original and complete state.
