Lady Pocket Library, 1st/1st US Carey Edition 1792
"The Lady's Pocket Library", published by Mathew Carey, Philadelphia, First Edition, First Printing dated March 20, MDCCXCII [1792] on the bottom of the title page.
Provenance:
Pen inscription on the first blank page, "Mary J. Withers by Winnifred Dodson's Book January 18th 1793" the second pencil inscription "L.W. Cabell / 1929 - Clara Winston Cabell"
Contents:
1. Miss More's Essays
2. Dr. Gregory's Legacy to His Daughters
3. Lady Pennington's Unfortunate Mother's Advice to Her Daughters
4. Rudiments of Taste
5. Mrs. Chapone's Letter on the Government of the Temper
6. Swifts's Letter to a Young Lady Newly Married
7. Moore's Fables for the Female Sex
Mathew Carey (1760-1839) was an Irish-born American publisher and economist who lived and worked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the father of economist Henry Charles Carey. Carey was born in Dublin into a middle-class Catholic family in 1760. He entered the bookselling and printing business in 1775, and when still only seventeen published a pamphlet criticizing dueling. This publication was quickly followed by another work criticizing the severity of the Irish penal code, and another criticizing Parliament. As a result, the British House of Commons threatened him with prosecution, and Carey fled to Paris in 1781. There he met Benjamin Franklin, the ambassador representing the American Revolutionary forces, who achieved independence. Franklin took Carey on to work in his printing office.
Carey worked for Franklin for a year before returning to Ireland, where he edited two Irish nationalist newspapers, "The Freeman's Journal" and "The Volunteer's Journal". To avoid imprisonment and prosecution by the British, Carey dressed as a woman and snuck on a ship to emigrate to the newly independent United States in September 1784. Upon Carey's arrival in Philadelphia, Marquis de Lafayette gave him $400 to establish himself, and Carey used this money to set up a new publishing business and a book shop, establishing:
"The Pennsylvania Herald" (1785)
"Columbian Magazine" (1786), and
"The American Museum".
"The American Museum" became the first American periodical to treat American culture as rich and original instead of a poor imitation of Great Britain's. Carey printed the first American version of the Douay-Rheims Bible, popularly known as the Carey Bible, in 48 weekly installments, which subscribers could then have bound. It was the first Roman Catholic version of the Bible printed in the United States. Carey also printed numerous editions of the King James Version. In 1794-1796, Carey published America's first atlases. His 1802 map of Washington, D.C., was the first to name the stretch of land west of the United States Capitol as the "Mall".
US: Priority (c.2-4 days) ----------$18.50
Canada: Priority (c.2-6 weeks) ---- $35.50
World: Priority (c.2-8 weeks) ----- $45.50
Condition Report: Hard boards, original leather with gold decorated spine [some wear, leather creases between spine and boards, boards are attached: see photos]; 4” x 7”; marbled endpapers; pen inscription dated 1793 and pencil inscription dated 1929 on the first blank page; 297 pages + Contents page, some soiling, very good condition.
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"The Lady's Pocket Library", published by Mathew Carey, Philadelphia, First Edition, First Printing dated March 20, MDCCXCII [1792] on the bottom of the title page.
Provenance:
Pen inscription on the first blank page, "Mary J. Withers by Winnifred Dodson's Book January 18th 1793" the second pencil inscription "L.W. Cabell / 1929 - Clara Winston Cabell"
Contents:
1. Miss More's Essays
2. Dr. Gregory's Legacy to His Daughters
3. Lady Pennington's Unfortunate Mother's Advice to Her Daughters
4. Rudiments of Taste
5. Mrs. Chapone's Letter on the Government of the Temper
6. Swifts's Letter to a Young Lady Newly Married
7. Moore's Fables for the Female Sex
Mathew Carey (1760-1839) was an Irish-born American publisher and economist who lived and worked in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. He was the father of economist Henry Charles Carey. Carey was born in Dublin into a middle-class Catholic family in 1760. He entered the bookselling and printing business in 1775, and when still only seventeen published a pamphlet criticizing dueling. This publication was quickly followed by another work criticizing the severity of the Irish penal code, and another criticizing Parliament. As a result, the British House of Commons threatened him with prosecution, and Carey fled to Paris in 1781. There he met Benjamin Franklin, the ambassador representing the American Revolutionary forces, who achieved independence. Franklin took Carey on to work in his printing office.
Carey worked for Franklin for a year before returning to Ireland, where he edited two Irish nationalist newspapers, "The Freeman's Journal" and "The Volunteer's Journal". To avoid imprisonment and prosecution by the British, Carey dressed as a woman and snuck on a ship to emigrate to the newly independent United States in September 1784. Upon Carey's arrival in Philadelphia, Marquis de Lafayette gave him $400 to establish himself, and Carey used this money to set up a new publishing business and a book shop, establishing:
"The Pennsylvania Herald" (1785)
"Columbian Magazine" (1786), and
"The American Museum".
"The American Museum" became the first American periodical to treat American culture as rich and original instead of a poor imitation of Great Britain's. Carey printed the first American version of the Douay-Rheims Bible, popularly known as the Carey Bible, in 48 weekly installments, which subscribers could then have bound. It was the first Roman Catholic version of the Bible printed in the United States. Carey also printed numerous editions of the King James Version. In 1794-1796, Carey published America's first atlases. His 1802 map of Washington, D.C., was the first to name the stretch of land west of the United States Capitol as the "Mall".
US: Priority (c.2-4 days) ----------$18.50
Canada: Priority (c.2-6 weeks) ---- $35.50
World: Priority (c.2-8 weeks) ----- $45.50
Condition Report: Hard boards, original leather with gold decorated spine [some wear, leather creases between spine and boards, boards are attached: see photos]; 4” x 7”; marbled endpapers; pen inscription dated 1793 and pencil inscription dated 1929 on the first blank page; 297 pages + Contents page, some soiling, very good condition.
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