Colton, C. C. Lacon: or Many Things in Few Words; addressed to those who think. Vols. I. & II. Bound with Remarks on the Talents of Lord Byron, and the Tendencies of Don Juan. Bound with The Conflagration of Moscow: A Poem. London: Longman, Hurst, Rees, Orme, and Brown, 1822-1823.
Quarter calf with marbled boards, binding a scuffed but with sound joints & hinges, 5 1/2 x 8 1/2 inches, tight, ink library stamp verso of the tp - no other library matter. 265, 186, 56, 30 pp., pages clean but for the Conflagration piece, which is foxed. Very good. [2139]
Rev. Charles Caleb Colton (1780-1832), Vicar of Kew and Petersham, was educated at Eton and King's College, Cambridge.
His Lacon, "is one of the most excellent collection of apothegms in the language," and some of the sayings may be found today in Bartlett's Quotations. The life of a vicar could not contain the enthusiasms and eccentricities of the author, and gambling became his passion, as well as collecting paintings and wine. He fled England and his creditors, for two years touring the United States, and then settling in Paris. It is said that in two years he cleared £25,000 at the tables. "A dread of an impending surgical operation so preyed upon his mind, that he blew his brains out whilst on a visit to Major Sherwell of Fontainebleau." - quotations from Allibone.
The poem The Conflagration of Moscow treats with Napoleon.