[Printed pamphlet.] England's Bards, 1864; or, The Three Poems which were awarded the one hundred guineas offered as prizes in the advertisement "Ho! For a Shakespeare!" which appeared about the time of Shakespeare's Tercentenary Anniversary.

Author: 
[The Manufacturers of Thomson's Crinolines; 'William Fulford'; 'Peter Quince'; William Shakespeare; Day and Son, Lithographers to the Queen; the Shakespeare Tercentenary Anniversary Celebrations]
England's Bards, 1864; or, The Three Poems
Publication details: 
London: Day and Son, Lithographers to the Queen, and to H.R.H. the Prince of Wales, Gate Street, Lincoln's Inn Fields, 1864.
£85.00
SKU: 10347

8vo, 16 pp. Unbound. Evidence of previous stitching, but with no remains of thread,. Aged, worn, and with outer leaves somewhat dusty. Preface, dated 'London, June 1864', by 'THE MANUFACTURERS OF THOMSON'S CRINOLINES', states that the judges of the best of 'the immense number of manuscripts received' were 'B. Webster, Esq., J. Sterling Coyne, Esq., Andrew Halliday, Esq., George Rose, Esq., and Thos. Sturtt Stuerte, Esq.' As revealed in the Bookman's Journal for 1923, the scheme was, in fact, an advertising stunt for Thomson's Crinolines, the three 'poets' ('William Fulford', 'Peter Quince, Carpenter' and 'A true son of Erin's Isle') being fictions. Uncommon: copies on COPAC at the British Library, Oxford, Cambridge, the National Libraries of Scotland and Wales, Birmingham, and Chetham's Library. Also the Folger.