Nathaniel Evans and Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson, 1772

EVANS, Nathaniel (1742-1767) and FERGUSON, Elizabeth Graeme (1737-1801). Poems on Several Occasions, with Some other Compositions. Philadelphia: John Dunlap, 1772.

First edition of the poetry of colonial clergyman Nathaniel Evans. Edited by his teacher William Smith, this work was published according to the author's own instructions after his untimely death at the age of 25. It includes an elegy and several other poems by Elizabeth Graeme Ferguson, printed under the name "Laura." Stoddard only notes 3 copies with the errata leaf, and many copies are also without the part title to Evans's discourse on a passage from the Gospel of John. Stoddard 221; Evans 12386; Felcone, New Jersey Books, 85; Sabin 23179.

Octavo (182 x 118mm). Lacking suppressed part title (*A1) and errata leaf (X1). (Some areas of browning and spotting.) Contemporary sheep (worn, upper joint starting); modern cloth box. Provenance: two excisions from blank flyleaves – fading signature on title.