The Female Rake: or, Modern Fine Lady. An Epistle from Libertina to Sylvia. In which is contain’d, The A-la-mode System
Dublin, Printed: London, Reprinted: Sold by J. Wilford, behind the Chapter-House in St. Paul’s Church-yard, [1735]. Folio, measuring 13.25 x 8.5 inches: [4], 16, with engraved frontispiece. Engraved headpiece and tailpiece in text. Resewn into eighteenth-century marbled wrappers. Occasional spot of foxing, final leaf toned.
First edition of this satirical poem by Joseph Dorman, a letter in verse written by Libertina, the “female rake” of the title, who defends her modern code of conduct against the moralizing of her friend Sylvia. Refusing to apologize for her romantic adventures, the unsentimental Libertina regards virtue as a matter of optics, rather than an innate quality: “Virtue, we know, subsists in other’s Thought, / And she is virtuous, who was never caught.” She argues that passion is a gift from a merciful God, to be enjoyed without fear of the “idle Menaces of greedy Priests.” Even so, Libertina values the security and freedom that her clear reputation affords her, and stresses the need to be discerning: “Close with the Man of Sense, and shun the Fool.” The engraved frontispiece depicts Libertina at her writing-table, taking dictation from a devil – “Reason’s a pure unerring innate light / by Heav’n dispens’d to guide our stepps aright” -- while a clergyman looks on in dismay. This is the true first edition of The Female Rake, printed in London in 1735: despite the title page’s claim of “Dublin, Printed: London, Reprinted,” there was no prior printing. Dorman would adapt The Female Rake for the London stage in 1736; the play was first performed by Henry Fielding’s company at the New Theatre in the Haymarket, with famous breeches actress Charlotte Charke playing one of Libertina’s prospective lovers. Dorman would go on to write an operatic adaptation of Samuel Richardson’s Pamela in 1742. Foxon, English Verse 1701-1750, D407. A near-fine copy of an uncommon poem, a glimpse into the sexual politics and societal expectations of the Georgian era.
Price: $3,000.00