History of Emily Montague, The.
Brooke, Frances. The History of Emily Montague. In four volumes. By the author of Lady Julia Mandeville. London: J. Dodsley, 1769.
4vols.; 12mo.; bookplate of Ditton Park on front pastedown of each volume, offset to facing endpaper; light occasional foxing, especially to endpapers; full calf, stamped in gilt; original red morocco spine label stamped in gilt; wear to extremities. In a specially made cloth slipcase.
First edition of the first North American novel; that is, the first novel to be written or set in the New World. This set with the half-titles often lacking. Composed while Brooke was in Canada with her husband, chaplain to British forces stationed in Quebec, the book offers an unprecedented portrait of North American peoples, landscapes and colonial life in Canada in the years immediately following the Treaty of Paris of 1763, which ceded French territories to Great Britain. The novel, an epistolary romance in the style popularized by Samuel Richardson, features two compelling heroines, the vivacious Arabella Fermor and the sentimental Emily Montague. The unusually realistic depiction of women’s experiences as well as the importance of female friendship throughout the novel has led critics to note its important "contribution to both feminist thought and feminist action."
The book comes from the library of Ditton Park, seat of the Duke of Montagu; each volume bears a “Ditton Park” bookplate on the front pastedown.
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