Essay on Irish Bulls [Family Association Copy]

London: J. Johnson, 72, St. Paul's Churchyard, 1808. Third edition, Corrected. Wonderful association with the Edgeworth family. Inscribed at the top of the title page by Maria Edgeworth "Mrs. Charlotte Sneyd from the authors - in stead of one which they stole from her when she was absent at Ross-------" .

Association copy with Maria Edgeworth (1768-1849) the famed children's author, educationist & feminist. She was the daughter of Richard Lovell Edgeworth and Anna Maria Elers. Her mother died young in 1773 and her father Richard married second Honora Sneyd (1751-1780). This was the beginning of a lifetime's assocation with the Sneyd family. Honora had been brought up by Seward family, beloved by Anna Seward (the author) and briefly engaged to John Andre. When Honora died in 1780, Richard married her sister Elizabeth. At Elizabeth's death in 1797, Richard m. 4 Frances Anne Beaufort, who was a year younger than Maria. Maria at first objected to Frances but they became intimate friends. "For fifty-one years their affectionate relations were never even clouded. The whole family party, which included, besides the children, two sisters of the second Mrs. Edgeworth, Charlotte Sneyd (d. 1822) and Mary Sneyd (d. 1841 aged 90) lived together on the most affectionate terms." (Dictionary National Biography for Maria Edgeworth. P. 380.)

This book is inscribed to Charlotte Sneyd, spinster sister of Honora, the woman who raised Maria from age 7 to 12; Elizabeth Sneyd was her step-mother from age 12 to 29. The family ties with the Sneyd family continued throughout her life, with her step-mothers' two spinster sisters, Charlotte and Mary forming a part of their family unit for life.

Sml. 8vo, (viii), 280pp, 2 engravings as chapter headers/footers. Early brown speckled calf, gilt rules on spine, rebacked with the original spine laid down. The title "Irish Bulls" and gilt rules in faint gilt on spine. Slightly trimmed at head of title page, marginally affecting the inscription of "Mrs. Charlotte Sneyd" - it's not perfectly clear that it is Mrs. that is written or Miss. Charlotte and her sister Mary were spinsters. With pencil notations on pp 121 & 231 and later emphasis on some paragraphs, probably by Charlotte Sneyd. The small signature "L. F. Robinson 1865" also on the title page.

An intimate family association copy.