"Horae Solitariae" by Edward Thomas - Duckworth, London - 1902 first UK edition - 15cmx13cm - condition: good, original publisher's binding with some rubbing, bookplate to ffep In 1902, future poet Edward Thomas published his second book, Horae Solitariae, a collection of essays. It’s a young man’s production, written by a young man (Thomas was twenty-four) and probably best read by young men of a romantically bookish nature who have read Lamb and Belloc with enthusiasm. The title can be translated Solitary Hours or Time Alone. Thomas alludes to Lamb throughout, and the book’s first essay, “Inns and Books,” is a covert reply to Elia’s “Detached Thoughts on Books and Reading.” In a blindfold test, you might mistake Thomas’ opening lines for Lamb’s: “With senses not averse from the savoursome domesticities of the house, I looked patient as I waited for dinner. Presently, unable to sit still, I went to the shelf of books. Every one was religious and of the eighteenth century. I sat down again.”