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First Edition, first state (BAL 3152). Hard cover, 12mo, in slate cloth, with peach end papers with small blindstamp : "B. Bradley, Binder, Boston." Both boards are stamped in blind with an elaborate design within two sets of ruled borders, with titles blocked to the spine in gold. Printed by Munroe and Francis, Boston. COLLATION: [1] pp. publisher's ads, [iii-ix,] x- xii, 287 pp., [1 blank], [16pp. unnumbered and undated publisher's catalogue]. CONDITION: Very Good Plus, or better. Rubbing to bottom corners, with a few very minor losses to cloth along head and foot of spine. One small embossed stamp to ffep. Hinges in order. A few spots of soiling around table of contents, otherwise, clean and square, and now in a protective mylar cover. The binding color is oxidized to show brown on the exterior with the slate showing a bit more upon the turn-ins. **This work contains selections taken from the Author's "Letters from New York, " a series of columns written for publication in the National Anti-Slavery Standard Dec. 25,1843 to Dec. 31, 1844 during which time she edited that publication. (Some of her fiction, poetry and music criticism topics here also appeared in "The Columbian Ladies and Gentleman's Magazine." --See our related listings 9426 and 9430.) **The multi-talented Boston-born journalist, author, poet, abolitionist and social reformer Lydia Maria Child ( 1802-1880) spins a number of didactic tales. A young umbrella seamstress comes to regrets at the hands of an unscrupulous young man, and is imprisoned for one bad decision to steal cloth for a wedding dress. She is befriended and rescued through the humanity of the Quaker prison reformer Isaac T. Hopper (1771-1852). Another "Letter" tells the story of washerwoman Charity Bowery, who was once convinced to surrender her freedom to allow her master's son to pay off debts, and whose children were sold into slavery when legally they had been freed by his father's will. Other topics include the exploration of Kentucky's Mammoth Cave, explored in depth for the first time in 1838, and of natural history interest. Temperence, the British abolition of slavery in the West Indies sugar trade, and the general progress of social reforms are all discussed in the very interesting and readable summary of feminist thought and political action in antebellum New York. Other topics include spiritualism. **Publishers and printers C.S. Francis & Co. of 252 Broadway, New York, and their Boston based associate, J.H. Francis, were stationers, and newsagents for a number of contemporary magazines of the period, as well as selling reprints of foreign (mainly British) newspapers. They also published a line of children's readers, medical books, and a variety of novels. BAL 3152, p. 144. Wright I, 529. Scarce.
Ref: ABO 9477
$185.00