[Langland, William] | edited by Thomas Wright

[William Pickering] THE VISION AND THE CREED OF PIERS PLOUGHMAN, Newly Imprinted

London: William Pickering | printed by Charles Whittingham, Chiswick, 1842. Hard Cover. Good+ binding. Item #6436

Small octavo. [2], lii, 272; [4], 273-629, [1] pp., frontis. First Pickering edition. In publisher's blue/green cloth with printed paper title labels on the spine. Both volumes are generally rubbed at the extremities; corners and spine ends softened with light fraying; the upper cover of Volume II has evidence or moisture exposure; labels are rubbed, but legible; contents are clean and the bindings are solid; folding frontispiece printed in red and black with slight misfolding and a small cloth tear the bottom of one fold.

An interesting provenance as both volumes bear the bookplate of publisher George H. Mifflin designed by Bruce Rogers in 1902 (Grolier Catalog 461; Dixson, "Concering Book-Plates" p. 130). Additionally, an early inscription on the front free endpaper signed John Jebb (1858) noting that this was given to him by the widow of Rev. Thomas T. Lewis. Also each volume contains the modern book label of American collector Albert A. Howard is on the back pastedown. Of this edition, John Porter in his Pickering catalog suggests that, "typographically [Piers Ploughman is] one of the most attractive of Pickering's smaller books" Porter 186. Indeed, it is printed with generous margins and lovely head- and tail-pieces. Keynes p. 85.

Price: $125.00