Lot 323
Sigourney, Mrs L. H.
Poetry for Seamen
Rare Books, Manuscripts, Maps & Photographs
Auction: 21 June 2023 at 11:00 BST
Description
Boston: James Munroe and Company, 1845. 8vo, side-stitched in original buff card wrappers, viii 63 pp., spine partly perished, covers cockled and marked, spotting to contents, date added by hand to title-page
Footnote
Note: First and only edition, presentation copy, inscribed 'Dr Demetrius Stamatiadis, from his friend, the author, Hartford, Sept 27th 1845' on the front cover; a total of 1,000 copies were printed, and apparently bought up by a local benefactor for free distribution to sailors (Haight, Mrs. Sigourney: The Sweet Singer of Hartford, 1930, p. 177). Sigourney was 'one of the first American women to succeed at a literary career' (Ency. Brit.). One other copy traced at auction (New York, 2006), restitched and lacking the half-title.