first edition Contemporary calf, gilt red leather spine label.
1773 · Edinburgh:
by [ Pennington, Sarah ].
Edinburgh: Printed by A. Donaldson… 1773 Donaldson first published this work by Pennington (d. 1783) in 1770, with other editions appearing in 1772 and 1777. The "Epistle upon the Cultivation of Taste" is addressed to "Miss C---- of E----" (presumably Edinburgh) and is in rhyming couplets and dated "Dumfries, Oct. 30 1757" at the end. Contemporary calf, gilt red leather spine label. . Twelvemo. Front joint cracked, but sound. Binding extremities lightly worn. A good, clean copy. Emily Plaskin states in the Oxford DNB that this is "a curious combination of conduct manual and scandalous memoir. In it she states that she was left motherless at nineteen and raised by a distant father who neglected her social education…Pennington's text is first used to defend her conduct and then develops into an advice manual similar to those produced by George Savile, marquis of Halifax (1633-1695), Anne-Thérèse, marquise de Lambert, Hester Chapone and Hannah More.
(Inventory #: 15932)