Memoirs; of the Author of A Vindication of the Rights of Woman
London: Printed for J. Johnson . . . 1798. First Edition. Small 8vo, half-title, two frontispiece portraits, 199pp, errata leaf with instruction to the binder in rear, indicating cancels (all present); later 3/4 blue calf and marbled boards, t.e.g. Engraved portraits lightly foxed; tanning to edges of endsheets from binding leather, a nice, crisp copy. Item #205737
Distraught after the death Mary Wollstonecraft, following the birth of their daughter -- who was to become the future author of Frankenstein and to marry the well-known poet Percy Shelley --- Godwin sat down to write this memoir of his wife almost immediately. Its frank depiction of an independent woman, including accounts of her sexual indiscretions and suicide attempts, proved scandalous to contemporary readers. This copy includes an extra frontispiece portrait of Godwin, facing that of Wollstonecraft; it lacks the leaf of advertisements.
Price: $2,500.00