ALLINGHAM, William. Ashby Manor. A play.

London: David Stott, 370, Oxford Street [1882]. First edition. [12], pp. 102. Original grey wrappers, ruled and lettered in red and black. Title page in red and black, half-title in red. Some Light toning to extremities, otherwise a very good copy.

JISC location only 1 copy without the cancel tab. O’Donoghue p.9. P.S. O’Hegarty: A Bibliography of William Allingham [13]. Not in Loeber. Advertisement tipped in on verso of half-title. Original gray paper card wrappers printed in red and black with circular design on cover. Without the cancel tab pasted over the original David Stott imprint in nearly all copies, to “Longmans & Co., Paternoster Row,” on both front cover wrapper as well as on title-page, per Colbeck, “indicating that the publication had been transferred,” just after the press run. The only copy we have noted without the Longmans cancel on cover and title-page. Extremely scarce.
William Allingham (1824-1889), poet, was born in Ballyshannon, County Donegal. Although a member of the Ascendancy, he had great sympathy for the farming class. He worked as a customs official for most of his life, and on his retirement became sub-editor and later editor of Fraser’s Magazine. One of Allingham’s more uncommon works, a historical play set in 1645 in the midst of the English Civil War, featuring two lovers on either side of the conflict. Allingham is generally remembered as the author of a few short poems: ‘The fairies’, for instance, is still read by schoolchildren. Laurence Bloomfield – well thought of by some critics in his own day, including Gladstone – is no longer widely read. His diary reveals why he is still of interest today: he found a niche in the heart of Victorian culture, though he came from a background and had had a life and employment markedly different from those of the people he encountered in London. One indication of his continuing commitment to his origins is the delight he took in hearing his poems sung as ballads in the streets of his beloved Ballyshannon.

[Cat 160]