The lamentable history of the beautiful and accomplished Charlotte Temple [...]

(Seduction) [Rowson, Susanna]. The lamentable history of the beautiful and accomplished Charlotte Temple, with an account of her elopement with Lieutenant Montroville, and her misfortunes and painful sufferings are herein pathetically depicted. Philadelphia: Barclay & Co., [1861]. 8vo, [2], [15]-58 pp.; frontispiece and 2 pls., orig. pictorial wrapper illus. Front and rear, front separated, damage to forecorner resulting in loss to wrapper and throughout text block, fair to poor. A critical edition in the Charlotte Temple bibliography, marking the full departure from the fictional story as told by the author, Rowson, and the emergence of a whole body of abridged editions purporting to present the “true story.” Several additions to the text, including a publisher's introduction, emphasize it's real, irrefutable status, and Rowson's name is not invoked until the final page and Charlotte's portrait is captioned “Taken from an Original Portrait.” Much has been written about the extraordinary body of formal and informal literature that generated by Charlotte Temple, and the book's 200 editions, of which approx. 72 were illustrated. This one relatively rare in its first edition. $95