Pardoe, Julia Sophia H. (1804-1862) Lady Arabella: or, The Adventures of a Doll.
London: Kerby & Son, [1856.]
First edition, small quarto, illustrated by George Cruikshank with four hand-colored etchings (one bound as the frontispiece); bound by Westleys & Co. London in full publisher's red cloth, stamped in blind with ornamental gilt title on front board and lettering on spine, with their ticket pasted inside the back board, spine frayed, especially along back joint, 6 3/4 x 5 in.
Pardoe was an English travel writer, novelist, and poet who was first published before she turned twenty. Her travels yielded a number of works concerning the people and cultures of Portugal, Hungary, the Bosporus region, and Turkey. The present work, intended for a young audience, begins with a little girl, Mary Lawson, who should have been on her way to school. Her steps are arested when she sees a mutilated doll in a heap of trash on the street. Imagine Mary's astonishment when the doll begins to cry, and then offers to share her sad tale.
