Lot 97: BURNEY, FANNY.

BURNEY, FANNY. COLLECTION OF 14 VOLUMES: Camilla: or, a Picture of Youth. For T. Payne and T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1796, 5 volumes, first edition, presentation copy, all 5 volumes inscribed on the title page from Maria Edgeworth to her step-sister Honora Edgeworth (apparently comprising her original ownership signatures adapted for presentation), some later pencil annotations, and pencil shelf-marks on upper paste-downs ("Glasthule Lodge"), list of subscribers, advertisement leaf at the end of volume 1, contemporary half calf, volume 5 with spine split and partially disbound, some worming, some foxing and staining, some other gatherings slightly loose, bindings very worn, joints split or partially split, portions of spine missing; [together with:] Cecilia. For T. Payne and son and T. Cadell, 1782, 2 volumes (of 5), first edition, ownership signatures of "A. Sneyd", Mary Sneyd and Lucy Jane Robinson on title pages, contemporary half calf, marbled boards, bindings worn, spine of volume 2 torn; the third edition, for T. Payne and Son and T. Cadell, 1783, 5 volumes, contemporary calf, red morocco labels on spine, joints cracked, edges worn; Evelina. For W. Lowndes, 1794, 2 volumes, new edition, engraved frontispieces, contemporary half calf, marbled boards, spines chipped, very worn ; 12mo (14)

[Camilla]: Rothschild 550

[Camilla:] Maria Edgeworth, presentation inscriptions to her step-sister Honora; her younger step-mother Frances Edgeworth (née Beaufort, d.1865) and half-sister Lucy Jane Robinson (née Edgeworth, b.1805), ownership signatures
[Cecilia:] Mary Sneyd, Maria's aunt (see lot 104), and Lucy Jane Robinson, ownership signatures
all volumes thence by descent in the Butler family

A presentation copy of the author's most successul novel, inscribed by Fanny Burney's fellow novelist Maria Edgeworth who, together with Jane Austen (then an unknown twenty-year old), Anne Radcliffe, Hannah More and Hester Thrale is one of the subscribers to this first edition.

The presentation inscriptions in Camilla appear to be in Maria Edgeworth's hand, comprising her original ownership signatures then adapted for presentation to her step-sister Honora: e.g. (volume 1) "Honora Edgeworth from | Maria Edgeworth | on her birth day -- Octυbr|14 1812"). Later ownership signatures (sometimes rather faded) are also present in all volumes, of: "Mυrs E 1839" (probably Mrs Frances Edgeworth, née Beaufort, Richard Lovell's fourth wife) and her daughter "Lucy Jane Robinson 1865" (née Edgeworth, b.1805, Maria's half-sister), as well an erased, probably earlier, signature in volume 1.