Pocula castalia The Authors Motto. Fortunes Tennis-Ball. Eliza. Poems. Epigrams, &c. By R.B. Gent

8vo. ff. [2] (blank), pp. [20], 137, [1], f. [1] (engraved portrait, signed: “W. Marshall sculpsit”), [2] (blank). Signatures: a4 A-I8 K4 [A1 is canceled]. Calf. Gilded spine and edges, filets on boards, gilt border around pastedowns. "Fortunes tennis-ball," "Eliza," "Poems," and "Epigrams, &c." each have separate dated title page; pagination and register are continuous. Includes headpieces and engraved initials. The George Thorn-Drury copy, with his notes. The portrait, inscribed ‘Aetat: Suae 17’ properly belongs to Baron’s Cyprian Academy (see Bib# 4102844/Fr# 314 in this collection).

In his work the wholesale plagiarisms by teenaged poetaster Robert Baron amount to effective forgery. ‘Fortune’s Tennis-Ball’ is largely plagiarized from Suckling and Lovelace. See D. Wing (ed.), Short-title Catalogue of Books Printed in England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, and British America, and of English Books Printed in Other Countries, 1641-1700. 4 vols. New York, 1982-98 (2nd ed.), B893; Grolier Club, New York, Catalogue of Original and Early Editions of Some of the Poetical and Prose Works of English Writers from Wither to Prior. 3 vols. New York, 1905, 29; ESTC, R208859.

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