THE PROTESTANT ANNUAL, 1841

London: Francis Baisler, 1840. FIRST EDITION. 195 x 130 mm. (7 3/4 x 5"). xi, [1], 307, [1], 4 pp.
Publisher's black pebbled morocco, covers elaborately decorated in blind with gilt centerpieces, smooth spine decorated in gilt, all edges gilt (gutter between the end of the text and the ads at the back expertly reinforced). With 10 engraved plates, including the frontispiece and engraved title. Dedication page with contemporary ink ownership inscription of Wm. C. Drysdale. Noticeable discoloration to pastedowns and flyleaves from binding adhesive, plates negligibly foxed, otherwise especially clean and fresh internally, with only the most trivial of imperfections; the exceptionally clean binding showing virtually no signs of use.

This collection of essays and verse promoting Protestant thought and values comes in a beautifully preserved Victorian publisher's binding. The editor of this work, Charlotte Elizabeth Tonna (1790-1846), was an evangelical Protestant social reformer particularly devoted to exposing poor factory conditions and improving the welfare of women and the poor. Writing under the name Charlotte Elizabeth, she made "contributions to social reform literature, and her use of the 'Christian Lady's Magazine' as a forum to influence politics through her female readers mark her as a significant nineteenth-century figure, especially for other women social reform writers, such as Harriet Beecher Stowe . . . and Elizabeth Gaskell." (DNB) Of particular note in our volume is an essay by Charlotte Elizabeth discussing the figure of Katherine Parr (sixth wife of Henry VIII) as a model of Protestantism and womanhood..