POPULAR ROMANCES: CONSISTING OF IMAGINARY VOYAGES AND TRAVELS. CONTAINING GULLIVER'S TRAVELS, JOURNEY TO THE WORLD UNDER GROUND, THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF PETER WILKINS, THE ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE, AND THE HISTORY OF AUTOMATHES. To Which is Prefixed an Introductory Dissertation, by Henry Weber, Esq. Edinburgh: Printed by James Ballantyne and Company, for John Ballantyne and Company, Silvester Doig and Andrew Stirling, Edinburgh; Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, and John Murray, London, 1812. Large octavo, pp. [1-4] [i] ii-xv [xvi-xvii] xviii-xliii [xliv] [1-3] 4-638, half title leaf present, printed in double columns, original drab boards with later buckram shelf back, printed paper label affixed to spine panel, all edges untrimmed. First edition. The first English-language anthology of imaginary voyages. Collects Swift's TRAVELS INTO SEVERAL REMOTE NATIONS OF THE WORLD BY LEMUEL GULLIVER, Holberg's A JOURNEY TO THE WORLD UNDERGROUND, Paltock's THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF PETER WILKINS, Defoe's THE ADVENTURES OF ROBINSON CRUSOE, and Kirkby's THE CAPACITY AND EXTENT OF THE HUMAN UNDERSTANDING; EXEMPLIFIED IN THE EXTRAORDINARY CASE OF AUTOMATHES. Weber's 26-page introduction is the first English-language critical discussion of the imaginary voyage. See Gove, The Imaginary Voyage in Prose Fiction, pp. 64-72. Locke, A Spectrum of Fantasy, p. 9. Reginald 14936. Not in Bleiler (1948; 1978). Boards scuffed and worn at edges, paper label darkened and chipped with loss to lettering, some scattered foxing to text block, a very good copy. COPAC records 4 copies. Scarce. (#110021).
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