Florio: A Tale for Fine Gentlemen and Fine Ladies: and, The Bas Bleu; or Conversation: Two Poems

(MORE, Hannah)

Published by Printed for T. Cadell, in the Strand, London, 1786

About this Item

First edition. Quarto. v, [3], 89, [3]pp., with publisher's advertisement on the final leaf. Contemporary owner name in ink on title page. Rebound with modern endpapers in modern period-style half calf and (contemporary?) marbled paper boards with red morocco spine label gilt. Light crease on the corners of first three leaves, a very few small spots of foxing in the text, a nice, near fine copy with the wide margins. Two works by More, unattributed on the title page but with her printed name after the dedication to Horace Walpole. The second poem of the two, which is dedicated to her friend Elizabeth Vesey, "The Bas Bleu," was about her circle of female friends. This poem served as the anthem for the Bluestockings, a term for an intellectual woman, derived from the Blue Stockings Society, an informal 18th Century woman's group. It also served as the first account of the Bluestockings to be published from within the circle itself. It remained the most significant defense of Bluestocking ideals for many decades thereafter, years in which satirical depiction of the Bluestockings would predominate. The poem was originally composed in 1783, circulated in manuscript within the circle, and published here in 1786. The poem's publication was a significant public statement by the Bluestockings during their period of ascendance. No copies of the first edition have appeared at auction in the past 35 years, and in that same time only one copy of the 1787 second edition has appeared at auction. Seller Inventory # 548152

Bibliographic Details

Title: Florio: A Tale for Fine Gentlemen and Fine ...

Publisher: Printed for T. Cadell, in the Strand, London

Publication Date: 1786

Binding: Hardcover

Condition: Near Fine

Edition: 1st Edition