LOVE TRIUMPHANT; OR, NATURE WILL PREVAIL

London: Printed for Jacob Tonson, 1694. FIRST EDITION. 217 x 165 mm. (8 1/2 x 6 1/2"). 6 p.l., 82 pp., [1] leaf.
Early 20th century half blue morocco over marbled boards, smooth spine, gilt lettering. Front pastedown with the bookplate of Edmund William Gosse; free endpaper with book label of Marion C. Walker; a couple of leaves with small ink stamp of the Selbourne Library. Robert D. Hume, "The Development of English Drama in the late Seventeenth Century"; Macdonald 93a; ESTC R181. ◆Light wear to joints and extremities, text slightly foxed and spotted in places, a couple of ink smears, a few minor marginal losses and tears, but a very good copy overall, with no major condition issues, and far better than most copies of works like this one.

This is an appealing copy of the final dramatic work by John Dryden (1631-1700), whose long and successful career as a poet, literary critic, translator, and playwright made him one of the giants of 17th century English literature. He became England's first Poet Laureate in 1668, and his production and influence were such that the final four decades of the century have become known generally as the Age of Dryden. Like a number of his other tragi-comedies, "Triumphant" alternates strictly between serious and comic scenes. Hume says the serious part of the play "drags" and involves an "implausible" conversion of a tyrannical father; the comic part is "mechanically seamy, and the marriage of the stupid Sancho to Dalinda, a previously unwed mother of two, is neither pleasing nor amusing." And it's too long. However, Hume asserts that the play "looks beyond the story to essentially philosophical issues. Dryden sets up a question: what is nature? He then proceeds to unfold an elaborate affirmation of faith in Divine Providence. . . . Thus 'Love Triumphant' is unworkable drama, but a most significant document in Dryden's intellectual development." The play was not especially well received, which may have encouraged Dryden to abandon writing for the stage in order to take on other projects, including his translation of the works of Virgil, published in 1697. Our copy comes with distinguished provenance. It was previously owned by the renowned critic, translator, and writer Edmund William Gosse (1849-1928), who is credited with introducing the work of Ibsen to the British public. According to DNB, Gosse "became one of the most prolific and powerful writers of his time.".