GRANT, Anne.

Inquire · Offered by Peter Harrington

Memoirs of an American Lady: First edition, an appealing copy in the original boards with an excellent association, of the author's best-known work, "a fascinating document in cultural history" (Orlando), comprising a childhood autobiography and a biography of the titular "American Lady", Catalina Schuyler, a Dutch-American woman who had a great influence on Grant's education and early development.This was the copy of Helen Dunbar of Boath (1775-1835), a close friend and literary correspondent of Grant. "The only daughter of a landed Nairnshire family, she remained unmarried, living with her widowed mother Jane, who appears to have been Grant's first acquaintance in the family. Dunbar's other literary friends included Elizabeth Rose of Kilravock and Hugh Millar" (McCue & Perkins, p. xxvii). Dunbar also taught Grant's children at a school in Laggan. Grant addressed several poems to Dunbar and a number of letters to her "dearest Bar" (a familiar abbreviation adopted by Grant's family) were published after her death. Upon the publication of the Letters Grant wrote to another friend that "I have got a most impetuous and energetic letter from Miss Dunbar of Boath, urging for a copy, she not having patience to wait the Elgin bookseller's expected cargo" (p. 73).The Glasgow-born Anne MacVicar, later Grant (1755-1838), lived in America from 1758 to 1768 after she and her mother moved to join her father who was performing military service during the French and Indian War. They settled

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