This beautiful antiquarian book of The Beauties of Rousseau Selected by a Lady was published for T Hookham in 1788. It is volume one in what would have been a two volume set. It is however the first edition. It was edited and introduced by Eliza Roberts (identified as "a lady"). The work curates passages from Jean-Jacques Rousseau's writings to highlight his reflections on morality, nature, and human sentiment.
At the time of listing I can find no other first editions for sale online.
It's bound in contemporary quarter leather with patterned paper boards. It's in good condition but there is quite heavy wear to the boards and edges with some surface loss to the paper. The spine is very rubbed and it's taken off the darker surface colour of the leather. Not much of the leather title label remains. There is marking to the text block edges.
Inside, there is a penned name to the front pastedown and some pencilled writing to the front free endpaper. The pages show light age toning with sporadic foxing and creasing. There are some discreet annotations to a few of the pages - all bar one in pencil.
Dimensions approximately 16.3cm x 9.7cm x 1.5cm.
The book will arrive hand wrapped in patterned wallpaper and ribbon. The bubble wrap I use is 100% biodegradable and the jiffy bags are recyclable.
Where possible, I use 100% recyclable paper tape, but sometimes I have to use clear plastic tape for extra strength.