8vo. In two volumes. vii, [3], 233, [1]; [6], 216pp. Contemporary gilt-tooled tree-calf, contrasting red morocco lettering-pieces, later rebacked and recornered, preserving contemporary back-strips. Lightly rubbed. Marbled endpapers, inked ownership inscriptions of R. J. Wilkinson to front blank fly-leaves, very occasional light spotting.

Jane Bowdler (1743-1784), poet and essayist from a literary family, with her brother Thomas and sister Henrietta Maria editing the famously expurgated Family Shakespeare (London, 1807). This, her only work, was first published posthumously in 1786 and proved immensely popular, with 14 editions appearing throughout the eighteenth-century. The collection includes the poem 'Elegy on the death of Mr. Garrick', and essays 'On Candour' and 'On the character of Curio'. The work is said to have captured the imagination of Queen Charlotte, who reportedly read it three times.