Description

[000059] [Coleridge, Henry Nelson], Six Months in the West Indies in 1825, John Murray, London, 1826, First Edition, Good+. Half Calf and Boards, 8vo. [4], 332pp.

Bound in modern half-calf and marbled boards, raised bands, spine divided into six panels, morocco title label to second panel, gilt double rules either side of bands.

Externally very good indeed, internally lightly foxed throughout, usually to margins but occasionally to text. Occasional pencil lines in margins, but generally clean.

Coleridge, Henry Nelson (1798-1843), barrister and writer, at Christmas 1822 Henry Coleridge met his cousin Sara Coleridge … the daughter of Samuel Taylor Coleridge … and by March 1823 they were engaged. His only sister Fanny, the only person to know of this, anticipated family disapproval and cautioned that it should be kept secret, but a year later Henry Coleridge told his father and shortly afterwards was sent to the West Indies to accompany his cousin, William Hart Coleridge, who was to become bishop of Barbados. The reason for his trip was ostensibly to improve his health, which was indeed poor throughout his life, but it is likely that the real reason was his family’s attempt to break off the engagement. However, in 1826, Henry Coleridge’s account of his excursion, Six Months in the West Indies, was published anonymously and not only upset some members of his family by its flippant tone and lively anecdotes but also included a thinly disguised reference to his love for Sara” (ODNB)