[Poetry, Verse]

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BAYFIELD, Mrs.

Fugitive poems

London. Printed for the author, by Warde and Betham, 1805. First edition.

12mo. [7], x-xxiv, [1], 26-192pp. Without half-title. With a list of subscribers. Contemporary gilt-ruled mottled calf, contrasting black morocco lettering-piece. Rubbed, loss to head of spine. Later inked ownership inscription of Miss A. M. Chapman and remnants of later book-label to FEP, later inked ownership inscription of E. V. Hogarth to recto of FFEP, central horizontal tear to leaf D2 - touching text with slight loss of sense, later naively repaired at margins, early inked correction to text of p.144, occasional light damp-staining, predominantly confined to margins.

A rare survival of the sole edition of the first published work of Mrs. E.-G. Bayfield, of whom little is known. In 1806, she published a selection from Johann Georg Zimmermann, entitled Gleanings from Zimmermann on Solitude. In addition, nine anonymous novels published between 1803 and 1814 have been tentatively, but not conclusively, attributed to her. The poems, primarily sentimental and moral in nature, include 'The dying mother to her son', 'The danger of discontent', and 'On the death of Miss Page-turner'. The lengthy list of subscribers to this volume include writer and actress Elizabeth Inchbald (1753-1821) and, more curiously, numerous officers of the Twenty-third Regiment. OCLC and COPAC together record copies at only four locations (Alberta, BL, Stanford, and Washington).

Jackson, Romantic Poetry by Women, p.24.

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