John Clare (1793 –1864) was an English poet, the son of a farm labourer, who came to be known for his celebratory representations of the English countryside and his lamentation of its disruption. He was born in Helpston, near Peterborough. In his lifetime, the village was in the Soke of Peterborough in Northamptonshire and his memorial calls him "The Northamptonshire Peasant Poet". He became an agricultural labourer while still a child. He bought a copy of Thomson's The Seasons and began to write poems and sonnets. In an attempt to hold off his parents' eviction from their home, he offered his poems to a local bookseller named Edward Drury. Drury sent Clare's poetry to his cousin John Taylor of the publishing firm of Taylor & Hessey, who had published the work of John Keats. Taylor published Clare's Poems Descriptive of Rural Life and Scenery in 1820. This book was highly praised, and in the next year his Village Minstrel and other Poems were published. The Story continues....

David Dyke will be bringing a reproduction of a First Edition of John Clare Poems, this will be on sale at a special rate. A number of paintings by Blisworth artist Peter Newcombe have been inspired by the poems of John Clare. Copies of a 2014 calendar of paintings including some by Peter Newcombe will also be on sale at the meeting. So now is your chance to obtain some unusual Christmas presents.

Thanks to Wikipedia for details of his life.