Rare Books

An almost exact contemporary of Alexander Pope, James Thomson played an important role in the 18th century revival of both the style of Milton and the style of Edmund Spenser. In February 1993 the Library acquired the James Thomson collection formed by T.R. Francis. (Sold to the Library by Ken Spelman Rare Books, York, England.) It consisted of about 400 volumes with imprints date chiefly from the 18th and 19th centuries. The collection is catalogued. The collection includes the following categories of material:

Numerous editions of works first published separately, such as: Alfred a Masque, Agamemnon, Britannia, The Castle of Indolence, The Commentaries of the Emporer Marcus Antoninus (translation by Thomson), Coriolanus, Edward and Eleonora: A Tragedy, The History of the Life and Reign of the Valiant Prince Edward, Liberty, Mustapha: A Tragedy, A Poem to the Memory of William Congreve, A Poem to the Memory of the Right and Honourable the Lord Talbot, Tancred and Sigismunda: A Tragedy, The Tragedy of Sophonisba.

Numerous editions (both composite and of their single components) of such important works as: The Seasons, The Seasons & The Castle of Indolence, and The Seasons with additions

Finally, included in the collection are multi-volume collected works, multi-volume collected works incomplete, one-volume poetry collections including Thomson, various "British Poets" series - single volumes of larger sets, single-volume collected works, multi-volume collected works, critical literature on Thomson, miscellaneous articles, citations, provenance, illustrations, etc.