CHAPONE, Hester. ~ Letters on the Improvement of the Mind. Addressed to a young Lady... in two volumes. Dublin: for J. Exshaw, H. Saunders, W. Sleater, J. Potts, D. Chamberlaine, J. Williams, and R. Moncrieffe, 1773.
2 vols in one, 12mo (165 × 94 mm), pp. viii, 256 (the two volumes continuously paginated). Some light browning, mainly marginal. Contemporary sheep, spine with 5 raised bands, gilt rules, green morocco label. Both joints slightly cracked at head, but an attractive copy. Contemporary ownership inscription ‘D Maxwell’ to head of dedication.
First Dublin edition, printed in the same year as the first (London) edition. The ten letters comprise: On the First Principles of Religion; On the Study of the holy Scriptures (2); On the Regulation of the Heart and Affections (2); On the Government of the Temper; On Oeconomy; On Politeness and Accomplishments; On Geography and Chronology; On the Manner of Reading and Course of reading History. It is dedicated to Elizabeth Montagu. ‘Montagu encouraged Chapone, presumably in the summer of 1770, when the two friends were travelling in Scotland, to publish the letters on education she had been sending her niece since 1765. Chapone was grateful to Montagu for correcting the manuscript, and the text, Letters on the Improvement of the Mind (1773), was Chapone’s most celebrated work’ (Oxford DNB). It ran to many editions over several decades. ESTC: BL, Cambridge, NLI, Bodley and National Trust (Florence Court, Enniskillen, N.I.). No US copies of this edition.