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Estimate: $ 500 - $ 750
[HAWKINS, LAETITIA-MATILDA.] Constance: A Novel. The First Literary Attempt of a Young Lady. [iii]-xi, [1], 290; [2], 267, [1]; [2], 261, [1]; 256, [4] pages, including 2 final ad leaves in last volume. Mounted errata slip at end of each volume. 4 volumes. 12mo, 173x107 mm, presumably original roan stamped HOOKHAM FECIT at foot of spines, spines and cover edges quite worn, joints rubbed and weak; contents toned with scattered foxing. London: Logographic Press for Thomas Hookham, 1785
first edition of the author's first novel, the first of 6 anonymous works published for her by Thomas Hookham and James Carpenter, who apparently remained unaware of her identity into the 1790s. These were formerly ascribed to Mrs. Charles Mathews or Eliza Kirkham Mathews. For an account based on an examination of the ledgers of Hookham and Carpenter and other clues see Jan Fergus, "Laetitia-Matilda Hawkins's Anonymous Novels Identified," Notes and Queries, Vol. 54, Issue 2, June 2007, pages 152-56. Raven & Forster 1785:35 (under Mathews).
