Quarto. xii, 232pp. With a half-title. Contemporary diced calf, tooled in gilt and blind, later rebacked and recornered preserving contemporary backstrip, later brown morocco lettering-piece Heavily rubbed, marked. Marbled endpapers, recent book-label of J. O. Edwards to FEP, very occasional light spotting. Presentation copy, inscribed simply 'from the editor, with further inked inscriptions to half-title of 'Walr. Bagot' and 'Mary Bagot. July. 1806'.

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

The early owners of this copy were likely Church of England clergyman and Staffordshire landowner Walter Bagot (1731-1806) and his wife Mary née Ward.