1837 The Rime of the Ancient Mariner

Description

First Edition, Illustrated, Very Scarce

A first thus, the first edition of this publication and the first major illustrated edition of this work. Very scarce. Foxing to plates but in better condition than usually seen. A large edition of this work, which has twenty five poetic and dramatic scenes designed and etched by David Scott. Scott was a Scottish historical painter. Collated, complete. 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner' is Samuel Taylor Coleridge's longest major poem. It tells the tale of a sailor who narrates his story to a gentleman who is on his way to a wedding ceremony. The poem is laced with numerous narrative techniques such as personification and repetition to build various atmospheres throughout. It is said that James Cook's second voyage of the South Seas and the Pacific Ocean may have inspired this poem as Coleridge's tutor was an astronomer on Cook's flagship and had a good relationship with him. William Wordsworth noted that the poem was inspired when Coleridge, Wordsworth and his sister were walking through the Quantock Hills in Somerset.