Imitations Lady (4 results)

Second edition. 16pp. With engraved frontispiece and five further plates. Stitched within original publisher's yellow pictorial wrappers. Extremities rubbed and discoloured, a trifle creased, short central tear at spine. Two small holes to frontispiece. A tale of the 'King of the Quadrupeds' in rhyming couplets for young children, in imitation of William Roscoe's popular 'Butterfly's Ball' (London, 1807), first published in 1807 and long attributed to Catherine Ann Dorset not least because it is described within the title as 'A sequel to the peacock at home'. Jackson p. 320. Moon 214 (2). Size: 16mo.

First edition. 16pp. With a hand-coloured engraved frontispiece and a further five hand-coloured engraved plates. Stitched, as issued, in original publisher's blue pictorial stiff-paper wrappers. Extremities heavily worn and creased. Early pen-trials to verso of upper wrapper, chipping to plates margins with occasional later paper repairs, foxed. A variant, without mention of 'Harris's Cabinet of Amusement and Instruction' to upper wrapper, of the first edition of a tale of the 'King of the Quadrupeds' in rhyming couplets for young children, in imitation of William Roscoe's popular 'Butterfly's Ball' (London, 1807), long attributed to Catherine Ann Dorset not least because it is described within the title as 'A sequel to the peacock at home'. Moon 214 (1A).

First edition. 16pp. With an engraved frontispiece, and a further five engraved plates. Original publisher's yellow pictorial wrappers. Extremities rubbed, marked, and discoloured. Near contemporary inked gift inscription to verso of upper wrapper, offsetting, scattered spotting. Catherine Ann Turner Dorset (c.1750-1817), widow of Capt. Michael Dorset and sister of poet Charlotte Smith, whose work Conversations (London, 1804) played host anonymously to Dorset's first appearances in print. The Peacock became one of the most successful imitations of William Roscoe's Butterfly's Ball, and was frequently reissued until the 1840s. The Gentleman's Magazine (8th Sept, 1807) said of it: 'After the exquisite little poem of Mr. Roscoe.and attempt at a Sequel was indeed an arduous task. But the "Peacock at Home" has afforded us so much pleasure, that we cannot hesitate to class it with the original it professedly imitates'. Moon 215 (1). Size: 16mo.

First edition. 16pp. With an engraved frontispiece and a further five engraved plates. Stitched, as issued, within original publisher's buff pictorial paper wrappers. Rubbed and marked, slightly creased, with a little surface loss to lower wrapper. Small pen trial to verso of one plate, very slight offsetting to text opposite engraved plates, else internally clean. A rare survivor in original wrappers of the first edition of a tale of the 'King of the Quadrupeds' in rhyming couplets for young children; the issue without mention of 'Harris's Cabinet of Amusement and Instruction' to upper wrapper. An imitation of William Roscoe's popular Butterfly's Ball (London, 1807), The Lion's Masquerade has long been attributed to Catherine Ann Dorset not least because it is described within the title as 'A sequel to the peacock at home'. As the advertisement to the lower wrapper of this present title noted, the series were immensely popular, 'purchased with avidity, and read with satisfaction'. Moon 214 (1A). Size: 16mo.