Keats, John.

Endymion: A Poetic Romance

London: Taylor & Hessey, 1818. First Edition. First issue with "Printed by T. Miller, Noble street, Cheapside" on the verso of the half-title. Complete with four pages of ads at the end dated "May, 1818." Original boards, rebacked with original paper label preserved. Untrimmed. Before publication, errors were discovered and errata leaves were inserted. Both a one line and five line errata slip exist, with both in this copy. Owner's bookplate on front free endpaper; contemporary signature to endpaper, and old bookseller notations in pencil. A Near Fine copy, pages in excellent, clean condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell stamped in gilt.

"A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases, it will never pass into nothingness." With one of the most famous opening lines in English verse, Keats' Endymion is an ode to the timelessness of beauty. In retelling the mythical tale of the shepherd Endymion's love for the moon goddess Cynthia, Keats also explores the tension between man's mortality and the immortality of his muse; in doing so, he comments allegorically on the fact that while a poet himself may ultimately die, the beauty of his work will live on. "The song of Endymion throbs throughout with a noble poet's sense of all that his art means for him" (Morley). Near Fine (Item #2377)