London: Printed for Taylor and Hessey, Fleet Street; and E. Drury, Stamford 1820. First edition of Clare's first book, with the half-title and five leaves of publisher's advertisements bound in at the back. Hayward English Poetry, 236 (noting four leaves of publisher's ads). Poems was published in an edition of 1000 copies, which sold out within two months; a second edition of 2000 copies was exhausted before the end of the year, and a reprint was required the year later. England's "greatest nature poet" (Tom Paulin), John Clare was considered the English Burns, a "natural" poet who was an impoverished, ill-educated agricultural laborer. Inspired by James Thomson's The Seasons, Clare had begun writing poetry at the age of 13, and although his poetic gift was considered inexplicable even to himself, by the time he died in an insane asylum in 1864, he had written "nearly 10,000 pages of poems, autobiography, journals, letters, essays, natural history writings and a substantial collection of traditional songs which he transcribed and collected." Like Burns, his poetry is enriched by his use of his native Northamptonshire vernacular, as well as by his profound affinity for the place, particularly in the days before the enclosure movement had destroyed it. Small 8vo, original drab boards with printed label on the spine. Contemporary ownership signature, dated Feb. 2, 1820 (the book was published on Jan. 15), on the front free endpaper; covers slightly rubbed, rear cover somewhat smudged, but still a superb copy, in original and unrestored state, preserved in a green half-morocco slipcase.