The History of Emily Montague (four volumes)

First edition. 4 volumes. 12mo, pp. [vii], [1], 240; [2], 240; [4], 223, [1]; [4], 213, [1]. Lacking leaf L1 (pp. 217-8) in vol. 1 (but with a photocopy of the missing text supplied), and also the half titles in each volume; C6 (pp. 35-6) loose in volume III (secured in place with an old pin); short tear in H1 in volume IV (no loss), and final leaf K11 with a more serious tear, affecting the text but without loss. Good condition overall.

Marbled paper boards, quarter calf, somewhat rubbed, corners bumped, spines chipped at tops and bottoms, morocco labels. Manuscript notes (2 pp.) in an early hand on the endpapers to vol. Manuscript is about the province of Quebec, "according to an acct. taken by General Murray in 1765", noting its agriculture and its progress in exporting 'corn, timber, fish, skins, leather, furs &c". Later inscription of W.M. Stawell, and nineteenth-century stamp of George Stawell, solicitor, Torrington; modern bookplate of Bernard Alwyn Jay.

Frances Brooke (née Moore, 1723-1789) was a novelist, playwright, essayist, translator, and poet. In 1754 she married John Brooke, a clergyman. In 1763 she joined her husband in Quebec City, where he had been posted as a military chaplain to the British Army Garrison. Dedicated to Guy Carleton, the Governor and Commander in Chief of Quebec, The history of Emily Montague is an epistolary novel which follows three couples through the complexities of courtship and marriage. Set in Canada, it is considered to be the first Canadian novel. Raven, British Fiction 1750-1770, 1298; Bowyer Ledgers 4758.

On consignment with LDRB.