92 pp. Engraved frontispiece and vignette title. (8vo) 8½x5½, later full maroon crushed morocco, spine lettered in gilt, all edges gilt. Reprint of the first edition of 1835, with a renewed copyright and the vignette title-page re-engraved.

Inscribed at head of printed title-page: "For Samuel Lover Esq., with kind regards of George C. De Kay. U. S. Frigate Macedonian, May 25th 1847." Drake had made a deathbed request that his unpublished verse be destroyed; but it was preserved, and in 1835 his daughter Janet had it published. Janet's husband was Commodore George Colman De Kay (1802-1849), who inscribed this copy and in whose name this new edition was copyrighted. De Kay was a naval officer who became a hero while serving in the Argentine navy during a conflict with Brazil over the area that later became Uruguay. When he returned to the United States, he went into business with a ship-builder who was Joseph Rodman Drake's father-in-law. In 1847 De Kay took the lead in promoting relief efforts for famine-stricken Ireland, where the potato blight had wiped out the people's basic foodstuff. De Kay and another sea captain, Robert B. Forbes, persuaded Congress to lend them two warships, the Macedonian and the Jamestown, to transport food and supplies to Ireland. The ships were loaded with cargoes of corn meal, Indian meal, rice, beans, and clothing. De Kay personally sailed the Macedonian to Cork. Clearly De Kay inscribed this copy of his late father-in-law's book on board the Macedonian while preparing to set sail. The recipient was the celebrated Irish song-writer, novelist, & painter Samuel Lover (1797-1868), who was then touring Canada & the United States with his highly successful solo program of his songs and narratives entitled "Irish Evenings."