SIR ELDRED OF THE BOWER, AND THE BLEEDING ROCK: Two Legendary Tales
First edition of More's first poetry publication.
Near fine.
Price: $2,000.00
SIR ELDRED OF THE BOWER, AND THE BLEEDING ROCK: Two Legendary Tales
"Sir Eldred is the theme of conversation in all polite circles" — Sarah More to Martha More, 1776
Hannah More was one of the most impactful women of late 18th-century Britain. The bestselling author of plays, chapbooks, poetry, and conduct books, she also took on major roles in the abolitionist and Sunday School movements. "In her time she was better known than Mary Wollstonecraft, and her books outsold Jane Austen's many times over" (Stott, vii).
This mini-collection of two poems was an early work for More, published soon after she came to London and became part of the Bluestocking circle headed by Elizabeth Montagu. Both poems were a mix of popular entertainment and moral instruction, a strategy More would favor for most of her life. "Sir Eldred of the Bower" was based upon a popular ballad about a married couple that ends in tragedy when the husband suspects his wife of infidelity. "The Bleeding Rock" retold a piece of folklore about a tragic love in the style of Ovid's tales in THE METAMORPHOSES. More's poetry was well respected across British literary circles: the first time she met the eminent literary critic and lexicographer Samuel Johnson at the painter Sir Joshua Reynolds's house, Johnson quoted one of More's own poems to her. After the publication of SIR ELDRED, Elizabeth Montagu wrote to More to say that "you are doing so much honour to your sex in general by your works." Scarce on the marketplace, with no recorded copies at auction since 1907.
Read more: Hannah More: The First Victorian.
The Object
London: printed for T. Cadell, 1776. Folio, 10'' x 8.25''. Modern half calf, marbled paper boards, brown spine label. Half title present. Publisher's catalogue at rear. [6], 49, [1] pages. Only a touch of foxing. Shows beautifully.
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