The Curiosity: Or Gentleman & Lady's Library (The Second Edition, Much Improved, 1739)

VERY RARE 1739 SECOND EDITION (much improved) of The Curiosity: Or Gentleman & Lady's Library. Contains various works attributed to Joseph Dorman (not stated) & others (see below). The title continues, in 16 sections, as follows (in full): "Containing - I. A Dissertation on Poetry, Music, Dancing, Balls, Assemblies, Masquerades, Polite Conversation, Italian Strollers, &c.; II. A Dramatic Dialogue Song, Written & Performed for the Entertainment of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales; III. Forlorn Hope, or the Old Maid's Sighs, in Imitation of Sternbold & Hopkins; IV. The Assembly, or York Beauties; V. An Essay on Ridicule, and the Means to Avoid it. Imitated from Horace; VI. The Progress of a Female Rake. An Epistle from Libertina to Sylvia, in which is contain'd the A-la mode System; VII. The Accomplish'd Rake; VIII. The Woman of Taste, or The Yorkshire Lady. A Ballad Opera; IX. A New & Accurate Translation of Basia, or the Pleasures of Kissing; X. Remarks on the Farce call'd, The Honest Yorkshire Man; XI. The Reform'd Rake. An Epistle from Townly to Rakish. Wrote in Honour of the Fair Sex; XII. Verses on a Young Student at Cambridge on his Cutting the Ears of a Setting Dog Belonging to Dr. B- of T--y College; XIII. Some Memoirs of the Secret History of Sig. Farinelli; XIV. Mac-Dermot, or the Irish Fortune-hunter. A Satyr in Six Canto's; XV. The Parson's Daughter. A Tale for the Use of Pretty Girls with Small Fortunes; XVI. The Lady's Tutor, or Instructions for Making Hexameter & Pentameter Verses". The SECOND EDITION much improved (stated on title page). First published in York in 1738, & here much extended (from 151pp to 201pp). Basically an entirely new work. First London edition. Dedicated to the Ladies of York. With wonderful engraved frontispiece (by B. Cole) depicting a gentleman in his library presenting a copy of "The Curiosity" to a lady. With small woodcut headpieces & tailpieces. Anthology of poetry & prose, with several pieces attributed to Joseph Dorman, along with other poems not by Dorman (though no author listed in the book for any of the pieces). Joseph Dorman was a Yorkshire admirer of Alexander Pope. He died in 1754, and is buried in Hampstead. Dorman's The Progress of a Female Rake & his revised version, The Woman of Taste (both in this volume), were first published in 1735 & 1738 respectively. The Female Rake, a ballad opera, was performed by Henry Fielding's company at the Haymarket in 1736. Also contains 8-pages of prose & poetic lines on Farinelli (1705-1782), the celebrated Italian opera singer. Our research shows that of the 23 poems in the book, John Breval wrote 1 (Mac-Dermot), Elijah Fenton 2, George Ogle 8 (including translation of Basia), James Ward 1, & 11 were penned by unidentified authors. Includes 9-pages of tables at rear for making Hexameter & Pentameter Verses. Followed by 3-pages of advertisements for Books Printed for James Hodges, at the Looking-Glass, on London-Bridge. ESTC shows three printings total: Two York printings held in two & four libraries respectively (both 1738, both 151pp, & both printed by Alexander Staples in Coney Street, with the variant second printing lacking the list of subscribers), with this 1739 Second Edition (with expanded pagination of 201pp) held in 23 libraries. Apparently there is also a hitherto unrecorded 1738 Manchester printing acquired in 2002 by the John Rylands Library. Pagination complete. Small volume. Laid paper. Bound in full leather (calf), raised bands, gilt-ruled spine, spine & covers unlettered. A GOOD copy only. Covers heavily worn & rubbed with leather dried & flaking, spine mostly worn off (only a tiny remnant of a red leather label remains), front cover very loose, former owner's ownership label to front pastedown, otherwise a nice clean tight leatherbound copy. Internally VERY GOOD. 201pp + 3pp ads. EXTREMELY RARE.…