Poems, with a Dramatic Entertainment. By **** *****.
London: Printed for the Authour; and sold by J. Dodsley…and F. Newbery, [1771]. First edition. Copper-engraved title and other vignettes after Wright. Dedication to the philanthropist, Jonas Hanway. With the errata, and a list of subscribers, including the names of Hanway, Samuel Johnson, Elizabeth Montagu, Elizabeth Carter, Thomas Astle, etc. Small library rubberstamp on title and a few other leaves. A little light browning. Generally a good, clean copy of an attractively printed book. Nicely bound in recent calf over decorative boards, gilt spine with red morocco label, edges stained red, new endpapers. Quarto. [20], 220 pp. Item #13012
Anne Penny (1731-84) was born in Bangor, Wales. In 1746, she married Captain Thomas Christian, a retired and wealthy naval officer. Her son became an admiral. In 1761, she published a versified Rambler story inscribed to Samuel Johnson, Anningait and Ajutt: A Greenland Tale. The next year she published pastoral poems from a new English prose version of Gessner’s Idyllen. The present book reprints these, along with a “dramatic entertainment” called “The Birth Day,” verse on many public occasions, and praise of Elizabeth Montague. Her second husband was Peter Penny, who left her in financial distress. (See Feminist Companion to Literature in English).
Jackson, Romantic Poetry by Women, p. 254, no. 1.
Price: $850.00