Daniel, Samuel (1562-1619)
Certaine Small Poems Lately Printed: with the Tragedie of Philotas.

London: G. Eld. for Simon Waterson, 1605.

Third edition of Daniel's poems, containing the first printing of Daniel's controversial play, Philotas, and of Ulisses and the Syren, octavo; issued in two parts, with blanks H8, [second] F7, and A1 & A2 blank but for signature marks before the separate title for Philotas; final blank [second F8] lacking; first title page restored in blank areas just touching the central woodcut ornament; sidenote on C3 verso (part two) shaved; bound in full purple gilt-decorated calf by Charles Lewis, rubbed; an attractive copy; ex libris Charles Tennant with his shield-shaped bookplate; purchased from Hoffman and Freeman in 1969; 6 1/8 x 4 1/4 in.

STC 6239.

Philotas got its author into hot water. After a circa 1604 staging of the piece, he was called before the Privy Council to explain himself to Robert Cecil. Specifically, he was meant to account for the "resemblance" of the plot to the recent real-life drama involving the Earl of Essex. Daniel dodged the accusation, but the indiscretion may have contributed to the loss of Queen Anne's sponsorship of the Queen's Revels at Blackfriars.

From the Ken Rapoport Collection.