1881 THE SONNETS AND SONGS OF ROBERT MILLHOUSE Antiquarian 1ST EDITION Rare Hardback Poetry Book in a Fine Condition. 
 
With a beautiful frontispiece (together with a protective sheet) and decorative Illustrations throughout. Edited by John Potter Briscoe, Public Librarian, Nottingham and Editor of “Old Nottinghamshire,” & Author of “Nottinghamshire Facts and Fictions.” Published by Norris & Cokayne, The Poultry Nottingham and Hamilton, Adams, & Co., London. Printed by Norris And Cokayne, The Poultry Nottingham. With 91 pp, xx.
 
This beautiful small book contains fifty-five sonnets, including Stoical Apathy, Early Morning and To a debilitated and sickly son; and twelve songs including one of his best-known pieces ‘Song of the Patriot’. 
 
Robert Millhouse was known as “The artisan poet of Nottingham, and the Burns of Sherwood Forest.” He was born in Nottingham in 1788 to a poor family, the second of ten children and lived until 1839. He started working when he was 6 and when he was just 10 years old, he was put to work at stocking-loom to help feed the family. However, he learned to read and write at a Sunday School. When he was about 16 his interest in poetry piqued and he acquired a number of books and put together a small library. Although he led a hard and stressful life, continuing his job on the stocking loom after a stint in the Royal Sherwood Foresters regiment, he continued to read books and write, but asked for financial assistance from the Royal Literary Fund, and an appeal was made on his behalf by a Dr. Booker to the Gentlemen’s Magazine and Nottingham Journal. This allowed him to continue writing and he eventually published his first book in 1823. 
 
This is a lovely first edition, in a beautiful condition, and a scarce copy of this book, which is in the original ornately decorated Publisher’s cloth binding. This does not have a Dust Jacket. 
 
The stunning green cloth boards and spine are in a very good state for a book that is over 140 years old. There is an ornately patterned gilt decoration over the front board. This really adds to the luxury of this book and gilt lettering on both the front board and the spine. On the back board there is a green emblem. The cover is intact and robust, with only minor wear, predominantly to the edges and a couple of small marks. There is soft bumping of the corners. 
 
The pages are all edge gilt and there are floral patterned endpapers and pastedowns. Inside, the pages are bright, clean and neat. They are lightly tanned, with slightly darker tanning to the endpapers, but the pages are in a very clean state throughout. The majority of the pages are uncreased, with just light and minimal creasing to a couple of pages. There are no rips, no pen or pencil marks in this book and the binding is tight, with an extremely light crack in the gutter between pages 32 and 33 (barely noiticeable). There are no loose or missing pages and so all 91 pages are present and accounted for. This book really has been cared for extremely well over the years. 
 
Please study the photos carefully as to the condition of this book, as they do form part of the description. 
 
This measures approximately 15.7 cm by 12.8 cm and 1.7 cm wide. It weighs approximately 244 grams. 
 
Thank you for looking.