[Rarebooks] fa: HANNAH MORE - MEMOIRS OF LIFE & CORRESPONDENCE - 4 vols. w/ AUTOGRAPH LETTER

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, May 24. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/mft586p

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.


William Roberts (editor): Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Mrs. Hannah More. London: R.B. Seeley and W. Burnside, 1834. Second edition. Four volumes, 8vos (19 cm) in half navy calf over marbled boards, spines with gilt decorations and gilt-lettered morocco labels; 407, 478, 466, 448 pp.; vol. I with portrait frontispiece.

Tipped in to the first volume is a SIGNED AUTOGRAPH LETTER from the indefatigable, tireless (and to some, tiresome) HANNAH MORE, (1745-1833), poet, playwright, philanthropist, moralist, abolitionist and evangelical busybody, one of the most influential women of her time. 1 1/2 pp. on a single 8vo sheet, folded, addressed on the reverse in More's hand: "Mr. Wm. Bulges Jun / Corn Street." After suggesting that "you will be surprised at receiving a second note from me...," More asks Mr. Bulges to forward a parcel to "Miss Forde[?]" and a note to "Miss Davids" and to put any expenses "in my Bill." She ends the note with an invitation: "When the days are long and the fruit[?] ripe, I hope you will take a ride and spend a day with us. Yours sincerely, H. More." Docketed and initialed by the recipient under More's signature: "received this Note April 16, 1827. W.B." With a notation in what appears to be the same hand on the reverse (address) side of the letter: "Mrs. Hannah More's autograph." It is interesting to note that in her will, More left a "German translation of [her novel] Coelebs" to the "Misses Forde" (Smith: Literary Manuscripts and Letters of Hannah More), and in a playful "Sketch of my Court at Windsor Terrace" drawn up in 1828, she lists among her many visitors "the Miss Davids, my old friends and new neighbours" (Taylor: Memoir of Mrs. Hannah More, 1838).

Letter with remnant of sealing wax on the verso, small pieces missing from the edges where the letter was unsealed and opened (not affecting any text), light toning to the paper, a touch of soiling to the exterior creases, a few tiny spots, otherwise clean and sharp. Bindings with some light rubbing and wear to the extremities; foxing to the frontispiece, as usual, otherwise the contents are very clean and bright; one leaf in vol. iv loosening a bit from the gutter, but secure; front flyleaves with ownership signatures of "B. Culpin, Upton Park, [18]97."