Rosamond: A Sequel to Early Lessons

Good 16mo - over 5¾" - 6¾" tall No Jacket, as Issued Hard Cover First Edition Two volumes pp. vii + 252; (ii) + 272, List of correct works by Mr. & Miss Edgeworth at rear. Bound in original paper covered boards, spines worn, boards detached from vol. 2. Ownership signature on title page. Would benefit rebinding. Maria Edgeworth, best known for the Gothic classic Castle Rackrent: An Hibernian Tale (1800), was born on New Year's Day 1767, the second child of Richard Lovell Edgeworth, in her paternal grandfather Mr. Eler's home in Black Bourtan, Longford. Her parents were married when her father was an undergraduate and only 19 years of age, and the success of their marriage seems to have been greatly influenced by those facts. However, five children were born of their union: a son, Richard, in 1766, Maria in 1767, two daughters, Anna and Emmeline, and an infant which died young. Her mother died when Maria was six, shortly after the birth of her last child, and Maria's only recollection of her was having been led into the sickroom to receive her mother's dying kiss. The duty of "mother" fell on Miss Honora Sneyd, the first of Maria's three stepmothers. Sneyd was known for her beauty and it is said that Maria, when she was about seven, was standing next to Sneyd’s dressing table when she looked up at her and was suddenly and irresistibly compelled to exclaim "How beautiful!" Maria always attempted to be a dutiful daughter, despite the seemingly endless parade of ever-younger stepmothers, the last of whom was actually younger than herself, which began only four months after the death of her mother and resulted in the births of 16 stepchildren. Maria was sent to school in Derby when she was seven, and remained there until she was 14. Exactly what her experiences were there are unclear, but it is obvious that the carefree little girl who once cut the squares out of the couch upholstery was "properly" subdued and refined. Her father placed the utmost importance on education and wished for Maria to contribute something of substance to the world, so she was sent to the more prestigious school run by Mrs. Davis in Upper Wimpole Street, London. Maria Edgeworth's literary life began while she was in Derby, upon the receipt of an order from her father to send him a tale "about the length of a Spectator