COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor, his copy]. RABELAIS, François (1494?-1553). The Works of Francis Rabelais. Translated from the French…by M. Le Du Chat, and others . London: for T. Evans, 1784.
COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor, his copy]. RABELAIS, François (1494?-1553). The Works of Francis Rabelais. Translated from the French…by M. Le Du Chat, and others . London: for T. Evans, 1784. 4 volumes, 12° (174 x 102 mm). Contemporary calf, red gilt lettering-pieces, spines gilt, board edges gilt (some overall wear, spines with some cracking or chipping). Provenance : Samuel Taylor Coleridge (his note and initials p.31); James Gillman (d.1839), Coleridge’s medical attendant and benefactor at Highgate (bookplate); sold to Joseph Henry Green M.D. (1791-1863) Coleridge’s literary executor (his sale Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, 27 July 1880, lot 650); Richard Monkton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton (1809-1885) British poet, patron of literature, and politician (inscription on preliminary leaf signed “R.M.M.”); Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe (1848-1945) British politician (bookplate). SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE’S COPY OF RABELAIS’S WORKS, EXTENSIVELY ANNOTATED BY COLERIDGE . Altogether some 865 words on 30 pages with other marginal markings and underlinings on 2 of the annotated pages plus another 6 pages. “I could write a treatise in praise of the morality and the moral Elevation of Rabelais’ Works, which would make the Church stare, and the Conventicle groan—and yet should be the truth, & nothing but the truth.” Reading beyond his bawdy jokes, the fantasy, satire, and the grotesque, Coleridge notes a deeper truth in Rabelais’ work: “Even in this wild grotesque, besides the humorous Parody of the Old Romances, there is a serious Moral” which makes it “impossible to read Rabelais without an admiration mixed with wonder at the depth & extent of his Learning, and his multivarious Knowledge” (vol. 2, pp. 154-5 and pp.164-5). He discusses the nature of Rabelais’ characters (Pantagruel in particular), and notes that “All Rabelais Personages are phantasmagoric Allegories, but Panurge above all” (vol. 2 flyleaf). As evidenced by his notes, Coleridge actively and enthusiastically engaged with the text while he read, and seemed very fond of Rabelais: “One cannot well help regretting, that no friend of Rabelais (surely, friends he must have had) has left an authentic account of him” (vol. 1 flyleaf). Coleridge’s interest in Rabelais was long-standing. Prior to annotating this book (in about 1825), Coleridge gave a course of lectures in 1818, one of which related to Rabelais. The lecture he delivered on 24 February of that year pertained to the nature of humor, and incorporated examples in works by Rabelais, Swift and Sterne; sadly, no notes exist of the portion of that lecture devoted to Rabelais. This work also with four annotations, probably in the elder James Gillman’s hand, in volume one, totaling some 75 words. Whalley, George, editor. The Collected Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Marginalia . Volume 1. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969. Coffman, Ralph J. Coleridge’s Library A Bibliography of Books Owned or Read by Samuel Taylor Coleridge , R2 (who also notes that this book was once in the collection of Edward William Stibbs, bookseller).
COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor, his copy]. RABELAIS, François (1494?-1553). The Works of Francis Rabelais. Translated from the French…by M. Le Du Chat, and others . London: for T. Evans, 1784.
COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor, his copy]. RABELAIS, François (1494?-1553). The Works of Francis Rabelais. Translated from the French…by M. Le Du Chat, and others . London: for T. Evans, 1784. 4 volumes, 12° (174 x 102 mm). Contemporary calf, red gilt lettering-pieces, spines gilt, board edges gilt (some overall wear, spines with some cracking or chipping). Provenance : Samuel Taylor Coleridge (his note and initials p.31); James Gillman (d.1839), Coleridge’s medical attendant and benefactor at Highgate (bookplate); sold to Joseph Henry Green M.D. (1791-1863) Coleridge’s literary executor (his sale Sotheby, Wilkinson and Hodge, 27 July 1880, lot 650); Richard Monkton Milnes, 1st Baron Houghton (1809-1885) British poet, patron of literature, and politician (inscription on preliminary leaf signed “R.M.M.”); Robert Crewe-Milnes, 1st Marquess of Crewe (1848-1945) British politician (bookplate). SAMUEL TAYLOR COLERIDGE’S COPY OF RABELAIS’S WORKS, EXTENSIVELY ANNOTATED BY COLERIDGE . Altogether some 865 words on 30 pages with other marginal markings and underlinings on 2 of the annotated pages plus another 6 pages. “I could write a treatise in praise of the morality and the moral Elevation of Rabelais’ Works, which would make the Church stare, and the Conventicle groan—and yet should be the truth, & nothing but the truth.” Reading beyond his bawdy jokes, the fantasy, satire, and the grotesque, Coleridge notes a deeper truth in Rabelais’ work: “Even in this wild grotesque, besides the humorous Parody of the Old Romances, there is a serious Moral” which makes it “impossible to read Rabelais without an admiration mixed with wonder at the depth & extent of his Learning, and his multivarious Knowledge” (vol. 2, pp. 154-5 and pp.164-5). He discusses the nature of Rabelais’ characters (Pantagruel in particular), and notes that “All Rabelais Personages are phantasmagoric Allegories, but Panurge above all” (vol. 2 flyleaf). As evidenced by his notes, Coleridge actively and enthusiastically engaged with the text while he read, and seemed very fond of Rabelais: “One cannot well help regretting, that no friend of Rabelais (surely, friends he must have had) has left an authentic account of him” (vol. 1 flyleaf). Coleridge’s interest in Rabelais was long-standing. Prior to annotating this book (in about 1825), Coleridge gave a course of lectures in 1818, one of which related to Rabelais. The lecture he delivered on 24 February of that year pertained to the nature of humor, and incorporated examples in works by Rabelais, Swift and Sterne; sadly, no notes exist of the portion of that lecture devoted to Rabelais. This work also with four annotations, probably in the elder James Gillman’s hand, in volume one, totaling some 75 words. Whalley, George, editor. The Collected Works of Samuel Taylor Coleridge. Marginalia . Volume 1. Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1969. Coffman, Ralph J. Coleridge’s Library A Bibliography of Books Owned or Read by Samuel Taylor Coleridge , R2 (who also notes that this book was once in the collection of Edward William Stibbs, bookseller).
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