Gleanings through Wales, Holland, and Westphalia, with views of peace and war at home and abroad. To which is added humanity; or the rights of nature. A poem, revised and corrected. By Mr. Pratt
London: printed for T. N. Longman, and L. B. Seeley, Paternoster-Row, 1795. First edition, 3 volumes, 8vo, pp. lxxii, 410, [2] errata; xvi, 535, [1] errata; xii, 429, [1] errata; original blue paper-covered boards, cream paper shelfbacks, manuscript titling on spines, volume designation numbers stamped on spines; a bit of cracking along the front joint of volume I, but on the whole a very good, sound set. Ownership signature in each volume of "G. Rushout 1796." Pratt (1749-1814), often writing under the pseudonym of Courtney Melmoth, was a British poet, novelist and dramatist who fell from grace the result of a scandalous relationship with one Charlotte (she at the time in boarding school, and her last name still unknown) who thereafter referred to herself as Charlotte Melmoth, and traveled the country with Pratt acting in his plays. They separated in 1781 and Pratt took himself to writing for much of the rest of his life, a bumpy ride, for sure, writing in turn licentious novels and campaigning for animal welfare. In all, he completed seven novels, ten plays, and 23 volumes of poetry and miscellanies. His novel Emma Corbett, a romance set in America during the American Revolution, was the first novel, apparently, using that war as a backdrop. His Gleanings through Wales was a popular work and went through several editions. Item #66971
Price: $850.00
