The Daily Counsellor

Hartford: Brown and Gross, 1859. Hardcover. 8vo. Original blind-embossed red cloth, gilt. x, 402pp. Very good. Mild edgewear and bit of rubbing/light soiling to binding; light even age toning throughout. Overall a tight, clean, nice third edition of this verse collection (with front board and spine gilt bright) in which Sigourney takes a Biblical line and uses it as the inspiration for a poem -- one for every day of the year, January 1st through December 31st. This particular copy was likely a prize for a school contest, for an inner flyleaf has been inscribed and signed large and bold in brown ink by the author (though recipient's name has been filled in by another hand): "Presented to / Andrew Sherratt / for excellence in Reading / with the good wishes of his friend, / L.H. Sigourney." Sigourney (1791-1865) -- known as "The Sweet Singer of Hartford," "The Mrs. Hemans of America" and "The Female Milton" -- was an incredibly popular, influential and prolific New England poet starting with her first book, "Moral Pieces in Prose and Verse" (1815). Signed copies of Mrs. Sigourney's works are rarely encountered, and this is a most attractive example.