Friendship in Death : in Twenty Letters from the Dead to the Living. To which are added, Letters Moral and Entertaining, in Prose and Verse: in Three Parts.

A smart, late edition of this contemporarily popular epistolary work on the nature of life and death, by an enigmatic female poet. A late edition of this work, first published in 1728 by T. Worrall, London. Bound in contemporary half calf. Undated, dated from a British Library copy. ESTC N18634. Friendship in Deathis the most popular work of Elizabeth Singer Row and was widely read among eighteenth-century readers and said to have gone through at least 89 editions by 1840, outnumbering even Defoe's Robinson Crusoe. The three parts are compiled of imaginary, epistolary writings based on Singer Rowe's Jansenist beliefs. Many are spiritual and morallistic in nature, exploring the sorrows of death and mourning of departed loved ones. The ESTC indicates the title page is likely to contain a false imprint. Bound in contemporary half calf.Externally, smart. Occasional areas of rubbing and some slight loss to extremities with joints cracking. Light loss to the tail of head strip. A small mark to the lower rear board. Both hinges starting. Front paste down peeling at extremity. Original spine label loosely inserted to front end papers. Ink inscription to front free. Internally, generally firmly bound. Pages bright and clean. Good.…