STRICKLAND, Agnes.

£950 · Offered by Peter Harrington

Historic Scenes and Poetic Fancies. First edition, presentation copy, inscribed by Strickland to an untraced recipient, "With thanks for much kind attention during Miss Agnes Strickland's visits at Polloc [Pollok] House." Strickland was a frequent guest of Lady Matilda Stirling-Maxwell, praising Polloc as an "abode of courtesy, learning, and hospitality" in her Lives of the Queens of Scotland.The inscription is long and effusive: "To Mrs Campbell, A testimonial of respect from Miss Agnes Strickland. With thanks for much kind attention during Miss Agnes Strickland's visits at Polloc [Pollok] House, together with Miss Agnes Strickland's best wishes to Mrs Campbell, for her happiness in the wedded state. Jany 1st 1851."This rare work presents Strickland's "earliest literary productions, when the vivid feelings and perceptions of a young heart and ardent imagination found their natural language in poetry. Some of these are perhaps already known to the reader, having appeared anonymously, with my initials; and when I grew bolder, with my name" (preface).

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