MAUD, and Other Poems by Tennyson, Alfred - 1855

1855. London: Edward Moxon, 1855. 1 page undated ads. Original blind-stamped green cloth.

First Edition of this collection of verse that includes the first book appearance of "The Charge of the Light Brigade," commemorating the costly allied victory the previous October at Balaklava in the Crimean War: you know these lines! -- "Half a league, half a league, Half a league onward" "Into the valley of Death Rode the six hundred" "Their's not to reason why, Their's not to make reply, Their's but to do and die" "Cannon to right of them, Cannon to left of them, Cannon in front of them Volley'd and thunder'd" "Half a league back again, Up from the mouth of Hell, All that was left of them, Left of six hundred." Tennyson subsequently revised this poem considerably into the version we know today. This copy does not have a preliminary ad catalogue between the endpapers (no priority); most copies have ads dated from July 1855 well into 1856. This is a near-fine copy, with minor wear at the spine ends and the usual hair-line cracks in the fragile endpapers. Wise 58; Colbeck p. 837; Hayward 248. Housed in an open-back slipcase.