The deathblow to the system of verse in quarto
The field of Waterloo; a poem
Edinburgh: printed by James Ballantye & Co. for Archibald Constable and Co. Edinburgh; and Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, and john Murray, London, 1815. First edition, 8vo, pp. 56, 4 (ads), [2] A proposal for publishing a print of ... the Battle of Waterloo; original brown paper wrappers; edges worn, curled, and chipped, mathematical calculation on blank verso of last leaf and recto of rear flyleaf; some toning and light foxing; a good copy. "The poem was the first upon a subject likely to be sufficiently hackneyed; and, having the advantage of coming out in a small cheap form - (prudently imitated from Murray's innovation with the tales of Byron, which was the deathblow to the system of verse in quarto) - it attained rapidly a measure of circulation above what had been reached either by Rokeby or the Lord of the Isles" (Lockhart, v.106-107). Bowden & Todd 84Aa. Item #67048
Price: $225.00
