Coleridge the Talker: A Series of Contemporary Descriptions and Comments with a Critical Introduction.
Ithaca: Cornell University Press, [1940]. Hardcover. Small 4to. Burgundy cloth with gilt spine lettering, pictorial dust jacket. xvi, 480pp. Frontispiece. Near fine/very good. Small spot at lower left of front board; jacket a bit edgeworn and age toned, especially spine. Item #49232
A tight and nice first edition of this surprisingly scarce title -- a biography largely in the form of "Contemporary Descriptions and Comments" from a wide range of writers and well-known figures of Coleridge's day (76 of 'em) listed alphabetically and including Thomas Carlyle, James Fenimore Cooper, Thomas De Quincey, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Hazlitt, Leigh Hunt, John Keats, Charles Lamb, Walter Scott, Robert Southey, William Wordsworth and many others. Best of all, tipped to the front flyleaf is a Photograph Signed from Armour, heavy stock matt finish 4½" X 4¼", n.p., n.y. Head-and-shoulders portrait of an older Armour in suit and tie, apparently from a publisher's catalogue, which he inscribes and signs "For [ -- ] / Richard Armour" in black ballpoint. Armour (1906-89) was a prolific prose and poetry author of more than 65 books, many of them outrageously witty verse for children and humorous parodies; early in his career he penned a few literary biographies, the first published in 1935. "Coleridge the Talker" was his third book and is seldom encountered.
Price: $400.00