London: Taylor and Hessey, 1818. First edition. With second issue slug on the verso of the half-title: “T. Miller, Printer, Noble street, Cheapside.” Exquisitely bound in early twentieth-century full green crushed morocco by Riviere and Son for Sotherans. Elaborate gilt floral pattern on both boards and spines, with interlacing vines, leaves and flowers. Central panel or both boards with a gilt flower with five inlaid white morocco flowers. Internal contents appear washed at the time of the rebinding, but clean and fresh throughout. Outer joints at the crown just starting, but boards are holding well, nonetheless. Housed in a custom cloth slipcase with chemise. Near Fine.

With one of the most famous opening lines in English verse, Keats' Endymion is an ode to the timelessness of beauty: “A thing of beauty is a joy forever: Its loveliness increases, it will never pass into nothingness.” 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 #7017)