Lot 168
Barber, Mary
Poems on Several Occasions
Auction: 16 June 2026 from 10:00 BST
Description
London: for C. Rivington, 1734. First edition, 4to (28.6 x 21cm), contemporary mottled calf, woodcut head- and tailpieces throughout, one engraved headpiece, joints cracked, front joint very tender [ESTC T42622; Rothschild 345; Teerink 747]
Footnote
The only published book by the Irish poetess and protégée of Jonathan Swift, who contributes one of the two dedications (the other being by Barber herself). Barber's output otherwise comprises only a handful of Dublin-printed broadsides and pamphlets. ‘Mrs Mary Barber, the wife of a Dublin tailor, and a friend of Swift’s … went to London in the summer of 1730 to conduct a vigorous canvass for subscribers to her Poems. Swift gave her introductions to his friends in England' (Rothschild).