Lot 92: [POPE, Alexander (1688-1744) and other contributors]. Miscellaneous Poems and Translations. London: Bernard Lintott, 1712.

8 o (188 x 120 mm). Half-title, engraved frontispiece by E. Kirkall, section title for Rape of the Lock, 4 advertisement leaves at end. (Half-title and frontispiece with slight offset at edges from binding.) Contemporary panelled calf (rebacked preserving original gilt spine). Provenance : purchased from Dawsons, London, 7 June 1967. Exhibited : Grolier Club, 'This powerfull rime,' 1975, no. 32. FIRST EDITION. FIRST PRINTING OF POPE'S RAPE OF THE LOCK which comes as the final piece in the miscellany with a separate title-page and independent run of signatures. John Caryll had suggested to Pope that he write a poem about the incident in which Lord Petre had cut off a lock of Arabella Fermor's hair, and the original version of the poem was completed within a fortnight, at some point between 2 August and early October, 1711. The intention was to heal the rift between the two Catholic families, and shortly before publication of the miscellany in May, 1712, advance copies of the Rape were sent as offprints to persons concerned in the story. Although the poem had won general approval in manuscript, the attitude of the Fermors now changed. Lord Petre had married Catherine Warmsley, a Lancashire heiress some seven years younger than Arabella and much richer, two months before. While none of the characters were mentioned by name, charges of indecency were levelled against the poem, and Pope sought to make amends by undertaking to dedicate the second edition to Arabella Fermor herself. At this stage, the poem was only two cantos long and the sylphs guarding Belinda had not been introduced. Case 260 (1a); Griffith 6; Rothschild 1565.