Books published by publisher Longman's, Green and Co., London/NY

This is the famous English Classic poem, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner which is the longest major poem by the English poet Samuel Taylor Coleridge, published in 1798 in the first edition of Lyrical Ballads. Along with other poems in Lyrical Ballads, it was a signal shift to modern poetry and the beginning of British Romantic literature. This poem relates the experiences of a sailor who has returned from a long sea voyage. The mariner stops a man who is on the way to a wedding ceremony and begins to narrate a story. The wedding-guest's reaction turns from bemusement to impatience to fear to fascination as the mariner's story progresses, as can be seen in the language style: Coleridge uses narrative techniques such as personification and repetition to create a sense of danger, the supernatural, or serenity, depending on the mood in different parts of the poem. In the introduction, Wordsworth says, "many men who have done wonderful things, but the only wonderful man I ever saw was Coleridge." There is a full introduction filled with explanations and example of what is to come in the story in the format of poetry, The Rime of the Ancient Mariner in Seven Parts.

First U. S. Edition which preceeds the UK edition by a year. Bound in blue cloth with gold lettering. 361 pages, 24 pages of ads at the rear. A VG copy, covers are clean & fairly bright. Mild bump to one corner. Owner's name is stamped at the bottom edge of the page blocks & both endpapers. All in all a fairly nice example of the true 1st edition.

Shipped from UK, please allow 10 to 21 business days for arrival. 388pp. Beautifully illustrated in b&w and colour by H J Ford, all 8 colour plates present, including frontispiece protected by original tissue guard. Binding tender with multiple cracks to hinge, pages generally clean bar light foxing, a few finger marks and 2 water stains between half title page – 81, and between 300 -388. Neat ink inscription to half title page. Bound in wonderful dark purple cloth covered boards with contrasting gold gilt design to upper and spine, a little marked and worn to extremities with small split to spine, this does not detract from the magical illustration. Gilded to all fore-edges.