Cider, a poem in two books by John Philips with notes provincial, historical, and classical, by Charles Dunster ( including the present most approved Method of Making Cider in Herefordshire) and other Illustrations [ Cyder ]

London: Printed by George Stafford for T. Cadell in The Strand 1791. 8vo. 8, [4], 183, 16 pub. adverts pp. Uncut. Half vellum over salmon boards, with pink title label and gilt lettering to spine; pages uncut, and still with 16 pages of publisher's adverts which are often discarded. Some marks to the boards and binding. Very light scattered spots but generally internally clean. Bound by John Gray & Son Ltd., Cambridge. John Philips (1676 - 1709) was a Herefordshire man, a scholar and a poet, who died prematurely as the result of delicate health (ironically from consumption). This is, according to Johnson in 'Lives of the Poets', "his greatest work, the poem upon Cider, in two books; which was received with loud praises, and continued long to be read, as an imitation of Virgil's Georgick, which needed not shun the presence of the original.", and was first published in 1708. All the interesting notes, including the details of cider-making, were added for the present edition. Samuel Johnson says that "To the poem on Cider, written in imitation of the Georgicks, may be given this peculiar praise, that it is grounded in truth; that the precepts which it contains are exact and just, and that it is therefore at once a book of entertainment and of science. This I was told by Miller, the great gardener and botanist, whose expression was, that 'there were many books written on the same subject in prose, which do not contain so much truth as that poem.' " Bitting tells us that John Philips was a nephew of John Milton, but that can not be true and surely refers to John Phillips (1631-1706). Johnson does tell us that while at Winchester he 'fixed his attention particularly on Milton'. He went on to Christ-Church, Oxford, and is noted mainly for his burlesques. Bitting p. 369 ; Cagle 925 ; Simon BG 1164. . Near Fine. Half Vellum. 1791.