The Friend a weekly paper by Samuel Taylor Coleridge first edition in parts 1809

COLERIDGE, Samuel Taylor. The Friend; A Literary, Moral, and Political Weekly Paper, Excluding Personal and Party Politics, and the Events of the Day. Penrith: printed and published by J. Brown, and sold by Messrs. Longman and Co., London, 1809.
 
The first eight numbers, an unbroken run of Coleridge's celebrated periodical, preserved in their original separately issued form. Approximately 250 x 150 mm each. No. 1, Thursday June 1, 1809, pp. 1-16; No. 2, June 8, pp. 17-32; No. 3, August 10, pp. 33-48; No. 4, September 7, pp. 49-64; No. 5, September 14, pp. 65-80; No. 6, September 21, pp. 81-96; No. 7, September 28, pp. 97-112; and No. 8, October 5, pp. 113-127.
 
All eight numbers complete and preserved as originally circulated, without stitching or later binding. Each bears the contemporary red newspaper revenue stamp required for postal circulation. Very good overall for ephemeral weekly publications of this date, with the expected folds and handling creases, some toning and staining, and occasional short tears and wear to the untrimmed edges, but substantially well preserved and complete throughout.
 
Coleridge began The Friend with an encouraging subscription list of around 633 names, but the readership quickly dwindled as the demanding philosophical character of the paper became apparent. The venture was consequently short-lived, running for only 28 parts between June 1809 and March 1810. The present group preserves the first eight numbers in their original separately issued form, including the long interruption between Nos. 2 and 3 which reflects the difficulties Coleridge encountered almost from the outset. 
 
The first number contains Coleridge's prospectus for the enterprise. He explains that each number would consist of "a stamped Sheet of large Octavo", precisely the form in which the present group survives. Registration under the newspaper duty allowed the sheets to be distributed through the post, the red fiscal stamps present here providing contemporary evidence of that original method of circulation.
 
Coleridge later extensively revised and reorganised the material for book publication, making these original weekly numbers particularly interesting as the first appearance of the work in the form in which subscribers encountered it.