LETTERS OF ADVICE FROM A MOTHER TO HER SON
London, England: (Printed by C. and W. Galabin, Ingram-Court, for) W. Cadell and T. Davies, 1803. First Edition. Leather-bound. 8vo. (21.5 x 13.0 cm. Contemporary butterscotch calf with diced russia central panels, surrounded by a border of repeating stamped "arch" patterns. Both boards bordered by gilt chain, and a double gilt rule (one thicker, one thinner). Gilt dentelles to edges.Minor rubbing to extremities and corners. Lovely navy blue marbling to edges, and stone marbling to endpapers. Some browning to edges of (marbled) endpapers, and prelims. Previous owner's signed name
to front free endpaper -- Rice R. Clayton. Very Good Plus. Item #86351
Mary (nee Clarke, 1749 –1812) was an English novelist who wrote The Pavilion, a single four-volume novel, but perhaps was better known for the book of advice she penned for her only son entitled "Letters of Advice from a Mother to her Son". She married Sir Claude Champion de Crespigny, 1st Barone, and they had one child, a son named William, born on 1 January 1765,
Around 1780, Mary Champion de Crespigny wrote a series of letters to her son, William, then aged 15. These were published as Letters of Advice from a Mother to her Son in 1803 and were dedicated to John Moore, the Archbishop of Canterbury.She is one of the "lost" women writers listed by Dale Spender in Mothers of the Novel: 100 Good Women Writers Before Jane Austen. Topics include religion, marriage, infatuation, (YES, EVEN!)seduction (sexual deportment) etc.
Price: $1,800.00