Buy this book on-line

BURNEY, Frances : CECILIA, OR MEMOIRS OF AN HEIRESS

[BURNEY, Frances]. CECILIA, OR MEMOIRS OF AN HEIRESS. By the author of Evelina. In five volumes. London: Printed for T. Payne and Son at the Mews-Gate, and T. Cadell in the Strand, 1782. First edition. Five 12mo. volumes. [ii],293;263;365;328;398 pp. Worn contemporary bindings of quarter calf with marbled sides, decorative rules gilt-stamped to spines. Armorial bookplate of Thomas Philip Earl de Grey (1781-1859) in all volumes. In general, spines have darkened and are flaking in places; gilt- stamped spine numerals have dulled so that only one is still readable; and, only one volume retains its gilt-stamped black label on spine. In particular, the backstrip of Vol. 1 has a vertical split near the center, a chip at the crown, and has been glued down; its top board is nearly off and is attached by the sewing cords. Upper joints of Vols. 2 & 3 are starting. Text leaves show intermittent light foxing but are generally clean. One signature (B) in Vol. 2 is slightly sprung at the bottom. In Vol. 4, one leaf (E2, p. 99-100) is missing the bottom fore-corner (but all text is intact) and a few leaves in one signature (L) have a small puncture at the inner margin. One leaf (E7) in Vol. 5 has short closed tear in margin. The bindings are fragile but the bookblocks and text leaves are better than very good. (CBEL, ii, p. 527). Cecilia was Burney's second novel to be published anonymously and, like Evelina, it was both a critical and popular success. Among her contemporary admirers were Dr. Johnson, Edmund Burke, and Joshua Ryenolds. Her accute social observations and the touches of light comedy in her early work were a model for the succeeding generation of female writers, notably Maria Edgeworth and Jane Austen. It was in the concluding pages of Cecilia that Austen found the title of her first novel, Pride and Prejudice. (DNB)., Very Good

Bibliophile Bookbase for antiquarian books, maps and prints.