The Prince of Abissinia: A Tale. [Rasselas.]

London: Printed for R. and J. Dodsley; and W. Johnston,, 1759. From the library of the Marchioness of Downshire First edition of Johnson's only novel, with appealing provenance, from the library of Mary Hill, Marchioness of Downshire and Baroness Sandys of Ombersley in her own right, elegantly bound to her house style of half calf and marbled boards, and gilt coronet and monogram stamped on the head of the spines. Though now better known as Rasselas, that title was not used in the author's lifetime except for the first American edition (1768). Written in the evenings of a single week to defray the costs of his mother's funeral, it soon became his most popular work, though all editions issued in his lifetime were published anonymously. In this copy, the second volume is in the corrected state, with "Contents of the Second Volume" rather than "Contents", and "indiscerpible" to p. 161, l. 2, v. 2. "None of his writings has been so extensively diffused over Europe; for it has been translated into most, if not all, of the modern languages" (Boswell). It is intriguing to speculate that Mary Hill (1764-1836) may have met Samuel Johnson, a friend of her uncle Edwin Sandys (1726-1797), when he visited Ombersley in 1774 along with Hester and Queeney Thrale, Mary's exact contemporary. When Sandys died childless in 1797 his library went to the Hanover Square house of Mary, his heir, who by that time had also begun to assemble her own collection of contemporary fiction, heavily favouring works written by women; this title may have been one of the volumes she inherited. Mary Hill was a wealthy heiress and landowner in her own right, having inherited the entirety of her mother's estate, Easthampstead Park, Berkshire, and, through her maternal grandmother, estates in Ireland totalling some 19,000 acres. She married Arthur Hill (1753-1801), Viscount Kilwarlin and Viscount Fairford, in 1786, and they had five sons and two daughters. George III and Princess Augusta were godparents to her youngest son, George Augusta Hill (who, scandalously, went on to marry both of Jane Austen's nieces). Mary was a regular figure in the Prince of Wales's circle, entertaining him in 1807 for four days at Ombersley and becoming friends with Mrs Fitzherbert. Mary administered her husband's estates upon his death in 1801, as her eldest son was only 12 years old, and gained a reputation as an engaged and beneficent landlord. She focused her energies on trouncing the Stewarts in the co. Down polls who, over the preceding decade, had started to challenge the Hills for control of the county electorate and openly opposed Castlereagh in 1807, "visiting farmhouses and beseeching wives and sweethearts to exhort their menfolk to vote for Colonel John Meade, her chosen candidate... Meade's victory was considered a personal triumph for the marchioness" (ODNB). Two volumes, octavo (98 × 151 mm). Early 19th-century half calf, smooth spines with coroneted monogram ("M.D.") of Mary Hill as Marchioness of Downshire stamped in gilt to head, red morocco labels, marbled sides, edges sprinkled brown. Bookseller's ticket to rear pastedown of vol. 1. Extremities rubbed with some minor loss to head of spine of vol. 2, tiny puncture to A2 in vol. 1, contents clean. A very attractive copy. Courtney & Nichol Smith, p. 87; Chapman & Hazen, p. 142; Rothschild 1242.