12mo. In three volumes. [6], 337, [1]; [4], 407, [1]; [4], 399pp, [1]. With half-titles. Contemporary gilt-tooled half-calf, marbled paper boards, contrasting black morocco lettering-pieces, marbled edges. Rubbed, joints starting. Foxed. Early inked ownership inscriptions of Mary Eliza Doherty to title pages

The first edition of the third and final novel by Scottish writer Susan Edmonstone Ferrier (1782-1854), a moralising and didactic work divorced from the satirical tone of her earlier efforts. The novel was originally published anonymously, with Ferrier's name first attached to the 1851 reprint, and is dedicated to Walter Scott (1771-1832), then in his dotage, with whom Ferrier had become close. It was Scott who had persuaded Ferrier to abandon her publisher William Blackwood - who had secured the rights to her first book for only £150 - and negotiate publication by Robert Cadell at the greatly enhanced fee of £1,700.