James Henry

1790 · réf. AQ34015 — London: Printed for T. Hookham 1790. 2 91pp 1. Bound by H. J. Cooke of Warwick binder's ticket to FEP in nineteenth century gilt-tooled half-calf marbled paper boards contrasting red morocco lettering- piece. Armorial bookplates of Frederick Leigh Colvile and Julia Leigh to FEP inscribed to recto of FFEP: 'By my Grandfather / F. L. C.' occasional manuscript annotations/corrections in Colvile's hand scattered spotting. A Leigh family copy of a scarce collection of verse by James Henry Leigh 1765-1823 squire of Adlestrop Member of Parliament for Winchester and second cousin of Jane Austen. Leigh's poetry although largely melancholic in atmosphere displays a significant engagement with the stage - as well as containing a 'prologue to a private play' the volume opens with an attempt at a 'New Rosciad' intending like Churchill's decorated satire on English stage-actors to lampoon the most influential dramatists actors and actresses of the day. Leigh inherited the Adlestrop estate at just nine years old with his uncle and guardian the Rev. Thomas Leigh serving as rector of the manor. A young Jane Austen first visited alongside her mother Cassandra Leigh in 1794 and made at least two further visits to Adlestrop in the next decade. The Reverend Thomas alongside several further relatives of Cassandra Leigh was bestowed a church living - a form of guaranteed income and accommodation - by his young ward; his clerical influences on Austen frequently exposed to such arrangements are reflected in the characters of Henry Tilney Northanger Abbey and Edmund Bertram Mansfield Park both of whom are bestowed similar livings. More specifically the attendance of landscape gardener Humphry Repton 1752-1818 to the Adlestrop grounds likely resulted in his name being referenced directly in Mansfield Park with the extravagant Mr. Rushworth displaying a foolhardy ignorance of Repton's staunch principles of landscape design. This copy was for some time held in the library of the Reverend Frederick Leigh Colville 1842-1880 grandson of the author and bears his bookplate inscription and manuscript corrections. It also evidently passed through the hands of another member of the family Julia Leigh; a candidate for whom includes Julia Judith Leigh wife of the author. ESTC records copies at just two locations in the British Isles Cambridge and Oxford and a further three in North America Folger Huntington and Illinois. ESTC N25463. First edition. Quarto. Printed for T. Hookham hardcover