ALDA,; The British Captive / By Miss Agnes Strickland
London: Joseph Rickerby, 1841. Engraved title page vignette. First Edition. Cloth. PRESENTATION COPY to Mrs. Louisa Mary Bowater & SIGNED by the Author on the front pastedown, 16mo (6 1/2" x 4 3/8"), small steel engraved illustration on title page, original publisher's brown blind-stamped cloth with gold-lettering on spine & -vase on front cover, all edges gilt (a.e.g.), 251 pages + [32]-page publisher's catalogue. Very Good + / None. Item #3206
A RARE PRESENTATION copy SIGNED by the author and inscribed on the inside front cover: "To Louisa Mary Bowater From Miss A. Strickland."
Miss Agnes Strickland (1796 - 1874) was an English historical writer and poet. She came from "a famous writing family" and was also the sister of notable Canadian writers Susanna Moodie (d.1885) and Catharine Parr Traill (d.1899). Agnes collaborated with her sister Elizabeth to write The Lives of the Queens of England (1840-48), the family's most noteworthy publication.
See John Sutherland, The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction, p.612. Only 8 libraries in the US have copies of this book. RARE: no other copies are currently available that are SIGNED or PRESENTATIONS by the Author.
Louisa Mary Bowater (1842 - 1913), later Lady Knightley of Fawsley in Northamptonshire, was an energetic philanthropist, churchwoman, and community worker involved in women's suffrage, education, politics, and emigration.
ALDA treats the tragic life of a young girl, a Briton related to warrior-queen Boadicea--who was taken captive and enslaved by the conquering Romans. She later converts to Christianity and suffers martyrdom. Anticipations of Quo Vadis.
A Very Special SIGNED PRESENTATION First Edition. Internally clean, bright, tight and free of marks. The extra engraved title page is lightly foxed. Covers are somewhat rubbed and faded. Light bumping to spine extremities and corners.
Price: $245.00