Folger-specific note
From dealer's description: "[W., T.] The Pleasant Companion; or a Tryal of Wits: being a choice Collection of most excellent Stories, gathered from Latin, French, Italian and Spanish Authors: whereof some are historically true; others the happy fictions of ingenious Men … London, J. Grantham, for D. Brown and T. Godwin, 1684. 8vo, pp. [8], 89, [4 (ads)], [3 (blank)]; first word of title shaved, else a fine, crisp copy in contemporary English speckled sheep, ruled in blind, endpapers of Dutch manuscript waste, covers somewhat bowed. $5000 First edition, very rare, a collection of nine short tales which range from the galante to the darkly comic and proto-gothick, along with a West Country ‘sleeping beauty’ story. In his dedication ‘T. W.’ dismisses the stories as mere ‘toys’, but the ‘Preface’ by the bookseller extols them more vociferously – the author ‘has in these Stories survey’d mankind, and taken in the whole microcosm. Has Anatomiz’d all the Passions, display’d each Muscle to its full Proportion, as the Strings of a Lute, or the Pipes of an Orgain, are varied into so many Motion. Love, Fear, Anger, Joy; all the train of them are moved … In a word, it is a Map of the little World.’ If there were original sources we have not traced them, and several of the tales are set in England or feature English protagonists, suggesting they may be largely original. They are vivid narratives, neatly told, full of sex, death, intrigue, and black comedy, but despite the statement ‘The end of the first Part’ at the foot of p. 89, no further parts were published." [...] Ordered from Bernard Quaritch, D9786, 2024-11-15, email quote
