The Talbot Case: An Authoritative and Succinct Account from 1839...
From the Library of John Fowles Seymour, M[ichael] Hobart [1800-1874]. The Talbot Case. An Authoritative and Succinct Account from 1839, To the Lord Chancellor's Judgment. With Notes and Observations: And a Preface. London: Seeleys, 1851. [iii]-xliv, 119 pp. Lacking half-title. Octavo (7-1/4" x 4-3/4"). Contemporary blind-paneled cloth, rebacked retaining existing spine with blind fillets and gilt title, endpapers retained. Light rubbing and a few minor scratches and small stains to boards, moderate rubbing to board edges, corners bumped, early ownership signature ("Jane [illegible]") and morocco bookplate (Alexander McGrigo) to front pastedown, bookplate of John Fowles and ink annotations to front free endpaper. Moderate toning to interior, light foxing and soiling to a few leaves, marginal pencil marks to a few pages, a few partial cracks to text block, all leaves secure, leaf from the March 22, 1851 Illustrated London News with an article discussing the case laid-in. $150. * Only edition. The Talbot case concerned Augusta Talbot, a ward of the Court of Chancery. After her parents died, she was placed in a convent as a boarder by her Catholic guardians, but concerns arose that if she became a postulant, her substantial inheritance would go to the Church. The case became a flashpoint for contemporary anxieties and anti-Catholic prejudices surrounding convents, which detractors claimed entrapped young women by confiscating their property. Talbot eventually left the convent, came into her inheritance, and married. John Fowles [1926-2005] was an important English novelist whose works include The Collector (1963), The Magus (1965) and The French Lieutenant's Woman (1969). He was drawn to historical source material, which often inspired his work.
Price: $150.00
Book number 75678