The new foundling hospital for wit
Subtitle: being a collection of fugitive pieces, in prose and verse, not in any other collection : with several pieces never before published ... : in six volumes : Vol. I.
Edition: A new edition, corrected, and considerably enlarged.
Publisher: Printed for J. Debrett, opposite Burlington house, in Piccadilly
Published: 1786
Place of publication: London
Language: eng
Number of pages: 323
Notes: Signatures: [A]⁴ B-N¹², X¹(-N12 & X¹,+XN²) O¹², P²(+/-).

Compiled by John Almon.

The six volumes were first published serially, 1768-1773; the title alludes to "The foundling hospital for wit", another poetical miscellany, possibly compiled by Sir Charles Hanbury Williams, published in 6 parts, 1743-1749.

Enlarged from v. 1 of the 1784 edition also designated "A new edition, corrected and considerably enlarged".

There are at least four issues of vol. i of this collection: in one issue, the advts. on p. [iv] & [viii] list no book printed later than 1785, leaf N12 is integral, followed by a single unsigned leaf, & signature P² is in another setting, P1v, ℓ. 3 having reading "it's prey"; in another issue, N12 & the unsigned leaf are cancelled by a two-leaf gathering signed *N; in this issue, N12 & the unsigned leaf are cancelled by two-leaf gathering signed N (containing the same material as *N1-2 but in another setting), XN1v ends "Derry down" & P² is reset, P1v, ℓ. 3 having reading "its prey"; in a fourth issue, N12 & the unsigned leaf are cancelled by the same two-leaf gathering signed N, P² is reset as before, & signature [A]⁴ is reset; in that setting of [A]⁴, the advts. on p. [iv] & [viii] contain a work dated 1788. Cf. The catalog of printed books of the Folger Shakespeare library (1970).

Engraved armorial bookplate of D. Cuthbertson.

Bound in brown cloth.