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Lot 372

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KEATS, JOHN ENDYMION

London: Taylor and Hessey, 1818. 8vo (220 x 140 mm). Half-title, lacking ads. Later green morocco gilt by Bedford, later morocco spine label, morocco folding case. Condition: rubbing to upper joint, spine lightly darkened. first edition of Keats's second book, which Leigh Hunt called "a wilderness of sweets." Keats's friend Joseph Severn claimed a role in creating the poem's famous first line. According to Severn, Keats burst in on him declaiming, "A thing of beauty is a constant joy" but, on Severn's advice, retired to revise the line. Before publication, errors were discovered and errata leaves were inserted. Both a one-line errata slip and a five-line errata slip exist. This copy has the 5-line errata leaf. Wise mistakenly considered the five-line errata a second issue, but Hayward has since shown that, as both errata leaves were printed before the book was published, they do not constitute an issue point.

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