The English Rogue Described in the Life of Meriton Latroon, a Witty Extravagant: Being a Complete History of the Most Eminent Cheats of Both Sexes.

HEAD, Richard and Francis Kirkman.

$100.00

Item Number: 109026

London: George Routledge & Sons, Ltd, 1928.

Finely bound example of Head’s famous satirical autobiography. Quarto, bound in full tree calf with green morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, illustrated with plates after the originals. In very good condition. Stamp to the half-title page.

Upon its first appearance The English Rogue was a forbidden book, copies being printed secretly and sold furtively at ale houses and such places; for when the original manuscript was submitted to the Censors of the Press they refused license to publish on account of its gross indecency. Head quickly refined it and in this, its final form, the book was first published in 1665 by Henry Marsh and they following year by Francis Kirkman who reissued it. The English Rogue soon became one of the first works of English prose fiction to be translated into a continental language.