A first edition by an Englishwoman extraordinary in her time

Letters from a Lady, who resided some years in Russia to Her Friend in England. With Historical Notes.

London: J. Dodsley, 1775.

Price: $1,750.00


About the item

First edition. viii, 207pp, [1]p., table. 1 vols. 8vo. A first edition by an Englishwoman extraordinary in her time. Quarter contemporary brown calf and blue marbled boards, red label on spine. Red speckled edges. Some wear to the spine and boards, text block in otherwise excellent shape. Bookplate of E. H. Greenly. Very good. ESTC T64790.

Item #318234

Jane Vigor (née Goodwin, b. 1699, d. 1783), was born to a clergyman in Yorkshire. Her first husband was Thomas Ward, Esq Consul General to Russia, and it was through that marriage that she embarked upon her experiences in Russia and wrote the passages for this volume some forty years later. She was married twice more, to Claudius Rondeau, Esq., and to William Vigor, Esq., whom she survived.

Mrs. Vigor inherited her father's fortune after her brother died, and she then married Ward. Both her first and second husband (who was Ward's secretary) were stationed in St. Petersburg, which is where she lived throughout her first two marriages. She returned to England after her second husband's death: frail, pregnant, and accompanied by William Vigor, a Quaker minister who became her third husband.

These first "Letters from a Lady" were followed, posthumously, by "Eleven Additional Letters" which provided a biography of Vigor.

Errata printed on verso of title page.