The Rural Poetry of The English Language, Illustrating The Seasons and Months of the Year, Their Changes, Employments, Lessons and Pleasures.

Boston: John P. Jewett and Company, 1856 Hardcover, 4to in full brown calf, the boards ruled in blind, the spine in 6 raised bands, rolled in blind, title in gilt on onlaid tan morocco label, other compartments featuring a single tooled sprig in black. Edges trimmed and painted red, marbled endpapers. 26 engravings, including frontispiece and title page, signed John Andrew, throughout text. 544 pps., First Edition. Inscribed in old ink on ffep: "To Major Ben: Perley Poore with highest respect and affectionate regard of his sincere friend Marshall P. Wilder." CONDITION: Very Good Minus. Boards with a few old stains, and rubbing to covers, corners lightly bumped, small abrasion foot of spine. Edges of joints rubbed. Interior is tight, hinges are firm, very little interior wear except for a few spots; of foxing one signature has slightly more pronounced foxing. Small, light, water staining visible to top and outer page edge, of last sixth of pages.**This anthology of Classical, English and American verse is indexed by subject and author and presented in a very serviceable volume. From the Fireside Poets to Virgil's Georgics, poems on rural, and sometimes agricultural, themes are presented. Author and Professor JOSEPH WILLIAM JENKS (1808-1884) is listed as a life member of the American Oriental Society in 1880, having presumably followed in his father's footsteps in the study and teaching of languages. Joseph was one of sixteen children born to notable minister, social reformer and linguist, Rev. William Jenks of Newton, Massachusetts. Jenks-père had degrees from Harvard and Bowdoin Colleges, where he also taught, languages being a necessary tool to the missionary minister. He was also a founder of the American Antiquarian Society; this book's recipient BEN: PERLEY POORE (1820-1887) was elected a member of the same organization in 1874. Perley Poore was , however, best known as the first "national correspondent" of nineteenth century political reporting. He began his experience as a foreign correspondent over the signature "Perley" during the 1840's, first with the Boston Atlas. He went on the edit the Boston Bee and American Sentinel, later becoming the Washington correspondent to The Boston Journal and other papers in the 1850's. He became known as Major Poore during the Civil War, organizing the militia, which became the 8th Massachusetts volunteers. Perley Poore may have been known to this book's Inscriber MARSHALL PINCKNEY WILDER (1798-1886), a Massachusetts farmer/horticulturist-turned politician, for a famous wager Poore had on the outcome of the presidential election of 1856. Perley Poore promised to push a barrel of apples on a handcart the thirty-six miles to Boston from his home at Indian Hill Farm in West Newbury the thirty-six miles to Boston, if Millard Fillmore beat John C. Fremont in the Massachusetts polls. A Broadsheet of the "Wheelbarrow Polka" was printed in 1856 commemorating the occasion, upon which the journalist was said to have been greeted by a "military escort and ten (to thirty thousand, depending on the source) cheering onlookers" after the two day trudge into Boston. James Buchanan did, actually, win the national election, making Perley Poore's efforts even more "fruitless." Inscriber Marshall Wilder was in the fruit business, as a leading pomologist.; he introduced 1200 new varieties of pear, as well as 800 varieties of camellia and azalea, to the Bay State. Provenance: From Benjamin Perley Poore descendants. OCLC 4196533 . First Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good Minus. Illus. by John Andrew.