Author: CONDER (Josiah):
Title: The Star in the East; With Other Poems.
Description: London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey..., 1824. FIRST EDITION. 12mo, 164 x 94 mms., pp. [v] vi - xi [xii Errata], [3] 4 - 195 [196 colophon], dedicated to Ebenezer Maitland, bound with an ms leaf preceding title-page, with short ms. poem "Self Considerations," on recto (leaf folded at fore-margin, two further pages at end with ms. verse, contemporary autograph "Fanny Hodge/ 1832" on top-margin of title-page, neatly bound in contemporary plum half calf, gilt spine, red morocco label, marbled boards. A very good copy. The bookseller and author Josiah Concer (1789 - 1855) left school at 13, embarked on a process of self-education, and came to the notice of the literati in 1810, when he published The Associate Minstrsels, to which Ann and Jane Taylor contributed, along with other scribblers. A prolific author, he was also a lay preacher, so the religious image in the title of the present book is one manifestation of his faith. John Keble, curiously, chose this volume to express anonymously some of his perceptions of the relationship between poetry and religion: "There are many circumstances about this little volume, which tend powerfully to disarm criticism. In the first place, it is, for the most part, of a sacred character: taken up those subjects, which least of all admit with propriety, either in the author or critic, the exercise of intellectual subtlety. For the practical tendency, indeed, of such compositions, both are most deeply responsible; the author who publishes them, and the critic who undertakes to recommend or censure them.... The most considerate reviewer, therefore of a volume of sacred poetry will think it a subject on which it is easier to say too much than too little." The Eclectic Review for 1824 was slightly iffy in its praise, saying "we shall, though most reluctantly, abstain from every thing in the shape of eulogy, and confine ourselves to simple analysis and extract." William R. McKelvy: The English Cult of Literature: Devoted Readers, 1774-1880 (2007),

Keywords: poetry religion literature


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