Bannerman, Anne.

Tales of Superstition and Chivalry [with all Four Plates, including the later withdrawn plate “The Prophecy of Merlin”].

First Edition. London, Printed for Vernor and Hood, Poultry, by James Swan, 1802. Duodecimo (10 cm wide x 16.5 cm high). 144 pages. Hardcover / Original, very decorative half-leather with the original spine-label “Tales” and gilte lettering and ornament on spine. Minor signs of foxing only. Unusually excellent in a firm and overall very good+ condition with only minor signs of wear. Manuscript-entry to rear paste-down “First Edition – Very Rare”. A rare occasion to buy this book in a superior condition. More images on request !

The Four Plates are all bound correctly, prior to the segments of Poems they should accompany:

1.″The Dark Ladie” – Page 7
2.″The Penitent’s Confession” – page 52
3. “The Murcian Cavalier” – page 98
4. “The Prophecy of Merlin” – page 124

Anne Bannerman (31 October 1765 – 29 September 1829) was a Scottish poet. She was part of the Edinburgh literary circle which included John Leyden, Jessie Stewart, Thomas Campbell, and Robert Anderson. Her work was popular in her lifetime and “remains significant for her Gothic ballads, as well as for her innovative sonnet series and her bold original odes.″

Bannerman was born in Edinburgh to Isobel (née Dick) and William Bannerman, a “running stationer” licensed to sell ballads in the streets.

Bannerman’s early work was published, often pseudonymously, in periodicals, notably the Monthly Magazine, the Poetical Register, and the Edinburgh Magazine, the latter of which was edited by her friend and supporter, Dr Robert Anderson. She was read and admired by Thomas Park, James Currie, Bishop Thomas Percy, Anne Grant, and antiquary Joseph Cooper Walker. Her first volume, Poems (1800), was well regarded but did not sell well. It contains a series of odes, original sonnets, a sonnet series translated from Petrarch, and another based on The Sorrows of Werther. In these two latter Bannerman developed Joanna Baillie’s theory of dramatic composition — her stated intent to focus on the progress of one master passion — and applied it to poetry. Her second collection, Tales of Superstition and Chivalry (1802) was published anonymously. It consisted of ten Gothic ballads and four engravings and did not fare so well with reviewers, in part because of her penchant for the strain of obscurity and ambiguity within the Gothic tradition. Her ballads were, however, praised by Walter Scott.

After the deaths of her mother and brother, she struggled financially and was a governess for a period despite precarious health. Although various of her friends supported her and sought to procure her a pension, such attempts were largely unsuccessful and she died in debt on 29 September 1829.

Contemporary scholars are rediscovering her work and she is the subject of several recent studies.(Wikipedia)

• Keywords: Catalogue Three – Literature by Women · English Literature – Rare · English Literature by Irish Women · English Literature by Women – 19th Century · Gothic · Gothic Literature · Gothic Novel · Gothic Tales
• Language: English
• Inventory Number: 32549AB

EUR 3.800,--