Trivia, or, The Art of Walking the Streets of London

Title: Trivia, or, The Art of Walking the Streets of London

Author: Gay, John, and W.H. [William Henry] Williams

Publication: London: Published by Daniel O'Connor, 1922.

Description: John Gay's mock-heroic poem offering advice on walking the streets of eighteenth-century London, including what to wear, which side of the street to walk on, how to navigate crowds, how to avoid pickpockets and wig thieves, and more. Reprint; first published in 1716. With introduction and extensive notes by William Henry Williams. Printed by Charles Whittingham and Griggs at the Chiswick Press on Van Gelden Zonen handmade paper. Title page in red and black. Added facsimile title page from the first edition. Frontispiece portrait of the author, plus fifteen additional plates. Head- and tail-pieces. Bound in publisher's full white cloth over boards, stamped in gilt, with illustrated endpapers, ribbon marker, and top edge gilt. Without the dust jacket. Quarto; 11.25 x 8 inches; xxiv, 92 pages, [16] leaves of plates. From the collection of Arthur Williams Hall (1873–1952) of Massachusetts, bibliophile and manufacturer of laboratory equipment, with his penciled acquisition price code on front pastedown; thence by descent through three generations. Light dust soiling to rear cover and moderate browning to front free endpaper, else a clean and crisp copy. Very Good+ or better.