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Estimate: $ 400 - $ 600
Edgeworth, Maria (1768-1849) Tales of Fashionable Life.
London: Printed for J. Johnson, 1809-1812.
First editions comprising six 12mo volumes bound in uniform contemporary diced russia with flat spines tooled in gilt, most boards detached, some volumes split, all in need of binding repair, a few leaves torn with corner or marginal loss, some scattered spotting; each 6 3/4 x 4 in. (6)
Tales in these volumes include: Ennui, Almeria, Madame de Fleury, The Dun, Manoeuvring, Vivian, Emilie de Coulanges, and The Absentee. "[Edgeworth's] copious works move uneasily between an enthusiastic espousal of a progressive paternalist social model and a more radical ideology that embraced change. She referred to herself as 'little i' in letters to her father and aunt but was described by Sir Walter Scott as 'the Great Maria.' She was the most highly acclaimed author of her day and an established member of the international literati, but until recent years her place in the British canon--or even the canons of Irish or women writers--has been as a precursor to Jane Austen or Sir Walter Scott. [New scholarship] move[s] beyond the binary categorizations of 'radical' and 'conservative' to situate her writing in the context of her life and times. The story that Edgeworth tells through her educational works, her novels, her letters, and her tales, is the story of a world grounded in tradition, supported by slavery and colonial domination, whose values are being challenged and ultimately changed." (Quoted from the preface to New Essays on Maria Edgeworth, edited by Julie Nash, New York: Taylor & Francis Ltd., 2020.)
