London: N/A, 1709. First edition. Hardcover. Near Fine. Quite a mystery here. Everybody and their mother attributes this short work to Robert Harley, the Earl of Oxford, but I have yet to find this information supported in an independent source. The dates work and the biography fits but...I would love to find another source to confirm. Harley did write brief satirical poems, all of them anonymous, and The Dream of the Solan Goose certainly falls in that category. It is also known that Harley used the talents of Defoe and Swift for some political satire but, so far, I have found no confirmation that these two had any input in this work This is a slender 8 page volume now lovingly bound in 1/4 leather with marbled paper. The spine is lettered in gilt. There are quite a few blank pages placed by the binder to provide some substance and strength to the volume. The volume itself is very clean and though it has toned a bit with age the pages remain supple and easy and safe to handle. As you might guess, this work is now extremely scarce. This is an exceptionally nice copy of an interesting, if enigmatic, early 18th century work. No auction records after 1967.

Price: $350.00