The Complaint, Or Night Thoughts
by Edward Young
ILLUSTRATED
SCARCE
Publisher: Andrus and Judd
Copyright: 1835
--CONDITION--
This book is in fair/acceptable condition. Leather. This is an antiquarian book that has had a long and illustrious journey through time and it shows. Please take a look at the pictures to ascertain the condition and state of this book. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask. The boards are heavily worn along edges and corners with significant signs of shelf wear. Outer hinges cracked. There are notes in pencil on the endpapers. The text block is evenly toned with occasional foxing. Double frontispiece; hand-colored. A good candidate for redressing. 324 pages. -
--ABOUT THIS ITEM--
The Complaint: or, Night-Thoughts on Life, Death, & Immortality, better known simply as Night-Thoughts, is a long poem by Edward Young published in nine parts between 1742 and 1745. This rare edition from 1835 is illustrated with beautiful steel-engraved plates. The poem is written in blank verse. It describes the poet's musings on death over a series of nine "nights" in which he ponders the loss of his wife and friends, and laments human frailties. The best-known line in the poem (at the end of "Night I") is the adage "procrastination is the thief of time", which is part of a passage in which the poet discusses how quickly life and opportunities can slip away. The nine nights are each a poem of their own. They are: "Life, Death, and Immortality" (dedicated to Arthur Onslow); "Time, Death, Friendship" (dedicated to Spencer Compton); "Narcissa" (dedicated to Margaret Bentinck); "The Christian Triumph" (dedicated to Philip Yorke); "The Relapse" (dedicated to George Lee); "The Infidel Reclaim'd" (in two parts, "Glories and Riches" and "The Nature, Proof, and Importance of Immortality"; dedicated to Henry Pelham); "Virtue's Apology; or, The Man of the World Answered" (with no dedication); and "The Consolation" (dedicated to Thomas Pelham-Holles). In his 1791 book, Life of Samuel Johnson, James Boswell called Night-Thoughts "the grandest and richest poetry that human genius has ever produced".
Item Dimensions: 6.0 inches x 4.0 inches
LOC B1 S1