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VENNING, Mary Anne.
A Geographical Present;
being Descriptions of the Principal Countries of the World; with Representations of the Various Inhabitants in their Respective Costumes, beautifully Coloured.
Publisher: London: Darton, Harvey and Darton, 1817
Stock code: 69290
Price: £575 Currency Conversion
Uncommon first edition of this highly attractive juvenile geography. "Like her early-nineteenth-century contemporary Priscilla Wakefield, Venning seems to have been a woman who channelled her interest in science into a socially acceptable career of writing for the young. While reconstructing Venning's feelings about her work is difficult, given the few, bare historical facts known about her, her work can be framed as subject to social constraints that would have blocked a scientific career but would have presented no such obstacles to scientific pursuits directed toward a pedagogical purpose" (Megan A. Norcia, X Marks the Spot: Women Writers Map the Empire for British Children, 1790-1895). The present work was her most successful, "skilfully blend[ing] quantitative statistics about manufactures and major rivers with qualitative judgements about national greatness. This combination propelled the text into two more editions in 1818 and 1820, and it was later published in America." Her subsequent publications included a Botanical Catechism (1825), and the Rudiments of Conchology (1826), and of Mineralogy(1830). The section on the Americas has 9 splendid plates, including images of the Iroquois of Canada, Natives of Virginia, Inhabitants of California, Mexicans and Peruvians.
Duodecimo (147 × 88 mm). Modern red morocco, title gilt to spine, raised bands, floral devices within single fillet panels to the compartments, gilt panels with floral corner pieces to the boards, chequered edge-rolls, all edges gilt, double gilt rules to the turn-ins. 60 hand-coloured, engraved plates. Attractive recent binding, two plates have small pieces torn from the upper corners, no loss of image, one has a minor repair at the gutter, some spotting, light toning, but overall a very good copy.
