[Edgeworth, Maria] Tales of Fashionable Life (six volumes, contemporary bindings)

London: J. Johnson, 1812. First Edition. First Edition. Six matching volumes. 6 3/4 x 4 in. Bound uniformly in contemporary diced Russia calf, with flat spines tooled in gilt, some fr. covers either detached or split (see below). All first editions. Tales include: Ennui, Almeria, Madame de Fleury, The Dun, Manoeuvring, Vivian, Emilie de Coulanges, and The Absentee. "[Edgeworth's] copious works move uneasily between an enthusiastic espousal of a progressive paternalist social model and a more radical ideology that embraced change. She referred to herself as 'little i' in letters to her father and aunt but was described by Sir Walter Scott as 'the Great Maria.' She was the most highly acclaimed author of her day and an established member of the international literati, but until recent years her place in the British canon--or even the canons of Irish or women writers--has been as a precursor to Jane Austen or Sir Walter Scott. [New scholarship] move[s] beyond the binary categorizations of 'radical' and 'conservative' to situate her writing in the context of her life and times. The story that Edgeworth tells through her educational works, her novels, her letters, and her tales, is the story of a world grounded in tradition, supported by slavery and colonial domination, whose values are being challenged and ultimately changed." (Quoted from the preface to New Essays on Maria Edgeworth, edited by Julie Nash). Boards in need of repair, most boards detached, a few leaves torn with corner or marginal loss, some scattered spotting, else fairly clean and bright internally, and a very scarce title to be found in the first edition.