Justin Croft : Rare & Fine Antiquarian Books - Specialist in antiquarian books, especially in the field of literature, history, social sciences, religion, art and architecture, science and medicine

First edition. "Lee planned her first play, The Chapter of Accidents (1780), while in debtors' prison with her father in 1772, and had written a novel before that. It was not until her father was on his deathbed, leaving his four daughters without prospect of any provision, however, that she overcame her reluctance to publish. Having submitted The Chapter of Accidents to Thomas Harris (d. 1820), manager of the Covent Garden Theatre and her father's employer at the time, she endured his contemptuous treatment and delays until the elder George Colman (1732–1794) produced it to acclaim at the Haymarket Theatre on 5 August 1780. A serio-comic play influenced by Diderot's Le père de famille, it was controversial in eliciting sympathy for a heroine who fails to maintain perfect virtue. It was performed over a hundred times in London and Bath by the early nineteenth century, was often reprinted, and was translated into French and German" (ODNB).