[Modern Fashions. A Poem, address'd to the Ladies].

£2,500 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

Foxon M372. Very Rare. Only one other copy is known (at Yale) which is also lacking the title-page. Advertised in the Gentleman’s Magazine as “published this month” (price 1s, Cave, Dodd) in November 1745. A largely unknown and anonymous frivolous poem on women’s fashion. This amusing poem begins by praising British women over the “Belles of France” and describing fashion as “The Mode, which strengthens Beauty’s Snare.” The poem soon moves on to discuss various articles of women’s fashion such as the capuchin, a hooded cloak or cape: “Convenient this! when Storms arise To skreen the Fair from wint’ry Skies! Or guard the Breasts of tender Maids, When piercing Frost the Air prevades…“ (p.3) The author also imagines a typical morning for an 18th-century woman of fashion: “The Clock strikes Ten! with drowsy Head, Corinna quits the downy Bed; First reads the Billets of the Day, Next goes to Prayers, and then to Tea; Trifles with Veny , or the Spoon, Till you may judge ’tis almost Noon; Then huddles on her Capuchin , To view Lace , China , or a Screen ; To view , for Ladies seldom go (To buy , but ramble to and fro) (p.4) The author also discusses hair worn in ringlets, fans (“Man / May fall a Victim to a Fan p.7), hooped skirts and headdresses. The poem ends by declaring: “A Thousand Fashions still remain / Unsung, and ask a lengthen’d Strain!” The poem is mentioned in a footnote on a book on Alexander Pope and “the seriousness of a mock epic” (the poem mentions Pope and (“Twick’n

• Binding: Hardcover

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.