The Angel of Mercy, a Little Book of Affection. To which is Prefixed an Essay on Heavenly Spirits

Book Description

London : Printed for G. and W.B. Whittaker, 1823. xlvii, [i], 109, [3]pp., 8vo. Fine color-printed engraved frontispiece by Appleby & Thanet depicting a monument to Eliza, with a leaf of publishers’ advertisements at end. Contemporary calf; somewhat worn and with the joints repaired. First edition, with a long and rather persuasive introduction stating that the manuscript of both essay and poem were saved from a burning house in Flanders, and given to the editor visiting that country by an elderly French-speaking gentleman. The poem is the love story of Theotime and Eliza, dedicated by the editor to “The Ladies of the British Empire,” in the hope that one of them will know the poem’s subjects and “will remove any obstacle which may prevent their enjoyment of the happiness herein so well described.” OCLC records four copies in the U.S.A.: U.C. Davis, Delaware, Princeton, and Quincy Community School.

Not sure what some of these terms mean? Look it up in our glossary.