Bowdler, Jane [A Lady Lately Deceased]

POEMS AND ESSAYS BY A LADY LATELY DECEASED, IN TWO VOLUMES [VOLUME TWO ONLY]

Bath: R. Cruttwell, 1786. First Edition. Octavo, [2], 194 pp. Fair; bound in contemporary burgundy leather with marbled endpapers, some surface marks and areas of discoloration to covers, extensive wear and rubbing to edges and corners; front board detached but present, binding else tight; gilt text blocks age toned; pages clean; half-title present. NOTE: Shelved in Room G.

1360710

Special Collections

Price: $200 save 20% $160

NOTES

Jane Bowdler (1743–1784) was an English poet and essayist, and the sister of Thomas Bowdler, who is best remembered for publishing expurgated editions of Shakespeare. Their sister Frances was probably the unconventional, lively "Miss Bowdler, of Bath" who merited mention in Fanny Burney’s diary. Jane Bowdler took to writing when she lost her voice for a period of four years in about 1777. She had suffered from intermittent ill health since contracting smallpox in 1759. She died in 1784 at Ashley, near Bath, and was buried in the family vault in London. Her poems and essays were published to benefit the hospital that had provided her care. (via Wikipedia)

When Jane Austen was 25, her father made the sudden decision to retire from his parish and move his wife and two daughters with him to Bath. This abrupt change seems to have stalled some of Austen’s creativity, but scholars differ as to whether this was because she was homesick for Steventon, or because she was busy with social engagements. Bath features heavily in Austen's novels, both as a setting to enjoy the "pleasures of the season" (shopping, balls and the theater) and as a place for the infirm and unwell to "take the waters" of the natural hot springs, whether internally or by being immersed in them. Both Northanger Abbey and Persuasion take place primarily in Bath, and in Emma, the social-climbing Mrs. Elton attempts to convince the heroine that her father's health would be much improved by visiting Bath.