Gil, Alexander.

12mo (138 x 79mm.), first edition, preliminary and final blanks, nineteenth century calf, spine gilt in compartments, gilt dentelles, gilt edges, marbled endpapers, extreme upper corners of last few leaves slightly soiled, with one very neat paper repair, lacking final blank (E12)



the rare first edition of the author's first and only collection of latin verse, the huth copy. There are long held copies in English libraries (London, Oxford, Cambridge, plus Dr Williams and four Cathedral or Oxford college libraries), but only two have appeared at auction since annual records began: the Heber-Britwell, now Huntington copy, and the present copy (twice). Three records appear in ninettenth century sources: Bindley (later Bright), Hibbert, and W.E.Buckley (sale 1894). These may not be distinct from each other, or from the two others now found in US libraries (Folger and Illinois).



In September 1622 the poet Alexander Gil the younger (1596/7--1642), one of the best Latin poets of the time, became under-usher at St Paul's School in London, where his father (Alexander Gill the elder) was headmaster: Milton was among the latter's pupils from 1620 or earlier  to 1625.  Gil and Milton became good friends, with Milton holding a high opinion of his friend's work and the two of them exchanging Greek and Latin poems in 1634.

Henry Huth, booklabel, sold in these rooms, 6 June 1913, lot 3222

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In September 1622 the poet Alexander Gil the younger (1596/7--1642), one of the best Latin poets of the time, became under-usher at St Paul's School in London, where his father (Alexander Gil the elder) was headmaster: Milton was among the latter's pupils from 1620 or earlier  to 1625. Gil and Milton became good friends, with Milton holding a high opinion of his friend's work (he praised one of Gil's poems for its poetic majesty and Virgilian genius), and the two of them exchanging Greek and Latin poems in 1634. In 1628 Gil was condemned by the Star Chamber to lose one ear in the pillory and the other in Oxford, as a result of imprudently disparaging Charles I in an Oxford tavern. Gil's father successfully petitioned for a remission of the punishment, though it appears Gil was still imprisoned for two years. Parerga seems to have been published in part as an attempt to ingratiate himself with the king,  to whom it is dedicated.

Gil succeeded his father as Headmaster of St Paul's ten day's after the latter's death on 17 November 1635. Following a difficult relationship with the governors he was dismiised from the post in the spring of 1639, after a petition was lodged on behalf of a boy named John Bennett alleging that Gil had viciously beaten him. Both Gil the elder and Gil the younger shared a reputation for what Aubrey described as "whipping fits", with their fondness for corporal punishment becoming the stuff of legend. Gil later secured the headmastership of Oakham School in Rutland.