Solitude; or, the effects of occasional retirement on the mind, the heart, general society, in exile, in old age, and on the bed of death. In which the question is considered, whether it is easier to live virtuously in society, or in solitude. Written originally by J. G. Zimmerman. To which are added, the life of the author; notes historical and explanatory by the translator; six beautiful engravings of particular passages in the work; and a copious index of the whole contents

London: printed for the Associate Booksellers, Vernor and Hood, J. Cuthell, J. Walker, Lackington, Allen, and Co. J Nunn, Barton and Harvey, 1797. First edition, 12mo, pp. lii, 309, [1], [20] index, [2] Vernor and Hood ads; inserted engraved frontispiece and vignette title page, 5 engraved plates, engraved by William Ridley, E.W. Thomson, Isaac Taylor, Samuel Springsguth, and Thomas Bewick; after Kirk and John Thurston; original marbled paper-covered boards, cream paper shelfback, printed orange paper label on spine; paper along the joints cracked, spine soiled, extremities rubbed and worn; still, a good, sound copy. With an inscription on the front pastedown: "Sarah Jane House / the gift of her father / Read slowly, Pause frequently, Think seriously, / Keep cleanly, Return duly, With the corners of the / Leaves not turned down. / - / Worcester May 28, 1832." Also, with Miss House's ownership signature at the top of the Table of Contents page. Zimmermann's famous work on the cultural history and philosophy of loneliness. Zimmerman (1728-1795) was a Swiss naturalist, physician, and philosopher, and the private physician of George III and Frederick the Great. "In Zimmermann's character there was a strange combination of sentimentalism, melancholy and enthusiasm; and it was by the free and eccentric expression of these qualities that he excited the interest of his contemporaries" (EB-11).