This is a two-volume set of books titled "Poems of William Cowper, Of The Inner Temple, Esq., In Two Volumes, A New Edition", printed in London in 1800 by T. Bensley for J. Johnson of St. Paul's Church Yard; Bensley was located at Bolt Court, Fleet Street and the books are extra illustrated and in a fine binding by Morrell. William Cowper (1731 - 1800) was an English poet and Anglican hymnwriter, and one of the most popular poets of his time; he changed the direction of 18th-century poetry by writing of everyday life and scenes of the English countryside. In many ways, he was one of the forerunners of Romantic poetry. After being institutionalized for insanity, Cowper found refuge in a fervent evangelical Christianity. He continued to suffer doubt about salvation and, after a dream in 1773, believed that he was doomed to eternal damnation. He recovered, and went on to write more religious hymns. His poem "Light Shining out of Darkness" gave us the phrase "God moves in a mysterious way, His wonders to perform." He also wrote a number of anti-slavery poems and was asked to write in support of the abolitionist movement; he wrote a poem in 1788 called "The Negro's Complaint", which became very famous, and was often quoted by Martin Luther King Jr. during the 20th-century civil rights movement. The books have six compartments with gilt titles, maroon and black labels, elaborate gilt tooling, and "Extra Illustrated" and "1800" on the spines. The covers are a full polished morocco with gilt fillet borders that have gilt designs along the borders, there are gilt designs along the edges of the covers, gilt dentelles with a gilt rule and marbled endpapers that bear the name "Morrell, Binder, London" near the bottom of the front paste-downs, "Extra Illustrated" pencilled in on the first blank endpaper, a frontispiece of Weston Lodge, Cowper's home, the title page, and all the edges are gilt. The first volume has an eleven-page Preface (iii - xiii), two pages of Contents, and 430 pages of text, and the second volume has a different view of Weston Lodge for a frontis, a two-page Advertisement and two pages of Contents, with Errata at the bottom of the second page of Contents, and 420 pages of text. The books are 8 vo. and measure 8 1/2 x 5 5/8 in. wide, with tight bindings and no loose pages, light rubbing along the spines and at the tips, and light offset with occasional brown spots in the margins, and a rare and very attractive set for being over two-hundred years old. #45 #5004