By Samuel Taylor Coleridge

London; Sampson Low, Son & Co. 1857; 26 engravings throughout text by; E.H.Wehnert, E.Duncan and Birket Foster; 51pp; sm8vo ­ 5" by 8"; finely bound in full leather by owner in 1908; owners book-plate to front endpaper; date and initials stamped in gilt to rear end cover; very good calf leather in brown with 5 raised bands to spine, title stamped in gilt to front board and date to base of spine; gilt to all page edges, gilt ruling to inner edges leather ; A Rare copy of the 1857 Edition in very good+ condition with some light marking to front and back edge leather, a truly exquisite and rare copy of this beautiful book.The leather binding is most notable being beautifully crafted in the Arts and Crafts Roycroft style.

This classic maritime poem may have been inspired by James Cook’s second voyage of exploration (1772-1775) of the South Seas and the Pacific Ocean; Coleridge’s tutor, William Wales, was the astronomer on Cook’s flagship and had a strong relationship with Cook. On his second voyage Cook plunged repeatedly below the Antarctic Circle to determine whether the fabled great southern continent existed.