If you are a collector of 18th-century poetry (and there are not that many of us around!) you will likely be interested in this very scarce disbound copy of one of the early Cambridge Prize Poems written by Christopher Smart, known for his magnificent ‘Song to David’, his insanity and the remarkable long poem ‘Jubilate Agno’ he produced from St Luke’s Hospital for Lunatics.

Smart showed poetical promise while still a student at Cambridge, where he won the annual Seatonian Prize for an English Poem for 5 of its first 6 years. This is one of these prize poems, titled ‘On the Goodness of the Supreme Being’. Although constrained by the conventional subject, Smart’s short poem is still full of sensuous detail.

This disbound poem, stitched, is loosely inserted in old card covers from 1933. It consisted of 8 leaves, the first blank, then 3 containing title and dedication, the last 5 (i.e. 10 pages) with Smart’s poem. There is a small stain that can be seen on the first couple of pages, the first blank is browned and loose, the rest is in good condition. A very hard to find early work by one of the 18th century’s most important poets. Although there are not very many 18th-century poetry collectors out there, there are far fewer copies of this work on the market (currently two I think).