A POETIC SURVEY ROUND BIRMINGHAM; with a brief description of the different curiosities and manufactories of the place. Intended as a guide to strangers. Accompanied by a magnificent directory; with the names, professions, &c. superbly engraved in emblematic plates.

BISSET, James.

Edité par Printed for the author; by Swinney and Hawkins High-Street Birmingham. Sold by T. Heptinstall Holborn London Swinney and Hawkins Birmingham and all other booksellers, 1800

A propos de cet article

Large 8vo, pp. viii, [9]-40, [4], [45]-62, [2]; with an engraved frontispiece and 27 plates (numbered A-Y [omitting V] and 1-3), short clean tear in plate J, and with some slight stains; else a very good copy, bound in quarter calf using old marbled boards but with a new spine, lettered in gilt. Binder's label of R. Peart, Bull St, Birmingham. First edition of the first illustrated English trade directory containing the names and particulars for three hundred professionals, merchants, bankers, tradesmen, etc., with handsome classical and emblematic plates. Some of the plates illustrate the architecture of the factories, offices and hotels or inns; others show scrolls of names of the various trades gunmakers, bankers etc, or the tradesmen to be found in certain streets such as New St or High St - supported by putti or emblems of their trade. All this is prefixed by the Poetic Survey, which enumerates, describes and praises the workshops and manufactories around the city. The most famous, of course, was Boulton's Soho works: Soho! where genius and the Arts preside, Europa's wonder and Britannia's pride; Thy matchless works have rais'd old England's fame, And future ages will record thy name. Whilst Art and Science reign, they'll still proclaim Thine! ever blended with a Boulton's name (p. 12). The poet also surveys hospitals, breweries, canals, mills, chapels and the rural beauties of the surroundings. In a further section he tells a fable entitled 'Ramble of the Gods through Birmingham' (pp. 21-36) in which Apollo and Mercury visit Birmingham for their amusement, and observe the workings of the place the police, public amusements, hackney coaches, the fairs and markets, and are astonished at the profusion of goods arriving by boat: They visited our Wharfs, and, wond'ring, found Some thousand tons of Coal pil'd on the ground, And scores of boats, in length full sixty feet, With loads of mineral fuel, quite replete; Whilst carts, and country waggons, fill'd each space, And loaded teams stood rang'd around the place (p. 28). Jackson, Annals of English Verse, 246.

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Détails bibliographiques

• Titre: A POETIC SURVEY ROUND BIRMINGHAM; with a brief description of the different curiosities and manufactories of the place. Intended as a guide to strangers. Accompanied by a magnificent directory; with the names, professions, &c. superbly engraved in emblematic plates.
• Éditeur: Printed for the author; by Swinney and Hawkins High-Street Birmingham. Sold by T. Heptinstall Holborn London Swinney and Hawkins Birmingham and all other booksellers
• Date de parution: 1800
• Reliure: Couverture rigide
• Édition: Edition originale
• Catalogues du vendeur:
  • Poetry