8vo. [4], 219pp, [1]. Handsomely bound in contemporary richly gilt-tooled tree-calf, contrasting red morocco lettering-piece. A trifle rubbed, spine lightly sunned. Armorial bookplate of Lavington House to FEP, later shelf-label of Wilberforce Library, Backsettown to recto of FFEP.

The second edition, finely bound, of the first poetic collaboration between surgeon John Aikin (1747-1822) and his sister, bluestocking and writer Anna Laetitia Barbauld (1743-1825). The siblings later collaborated on Evenings at Home, or The Juvenile Budget Opened (1792-1796), one of the most celebrated and ubiquitous pieces of children's literature of the late eighteenth century.

This copy was previously held in the Wilberforce Library, Backsettown, established by physician and noted doctor to Virginia Woolf, Octavia Wilberforce (1888-1963). Wilberforce pursued medicine despite the disapproval of her parents, being largely supported by actress Elizabeth Robins; a long-term friend of the Woolfs, she was consulted at her practice in Brighton and recommended complete rest just a day before Virginia Woolf committed suicide.

Provenance: Originally held in the library of Lavington House, home of poet John Sargent (1749-1831), whose son married William Wilberforce's first cousin. Sargent's eldest daughter married Samuel Wilberforce; their granddaughter, Octavia Wilberforce, established Wilberforce Library, Backsettown, to which this volume was later transferred.