[Fore-Edge Painting] Fragments of Prose and Verse – A Young Lady

Double Fore-Edge Painting: Harleston Park [Harlestone House], Northamptonshire, each image depicting the before and after of alterations to the estate. Some have suggested it was the inspiration for Jane Austen’s Mansfield Park. Henrietta Maria Bowdler’s edition of her friend, Elizabeth Smith’s poetry, neither named at title page. With Some Account of Her Life and Character by Bowdler. Pencil manuscript at title page to fill in the unnamed authors, and ink manuscript at bottom of title page of previous ownership. Red morocco, gilt fillet front and rear boards, gilt ruled and lettered spine. Gilt edges around. Marbled endpapers. Gilt dentelles at doublure. Light shelf wear and gentle rubbing at extremities. Block is clean, though subtly tanned. 12mo, 219 pp. plus publisher’s advertisement [1]. Near Fine.