The works of the right honourable Lady Mary Wortley Montague. Including her correspondence, poems and essays. Published by permission from her genuine papers

London: printed for Richard Phillips, No. 71, St. Paul's Church-yard, 1803. First collected edition, octavo issue, 5 volumes, original tan paper-covered boards, blue paper-covered spines, paper labels on spines; 2 engraved portraits (Lady Mary Pierrepoint. 1710; and, Lady Mary Wortley Montagu. 1720), 8 facsimiles (4 folding); spines creased and chipped with hairline cracks, joints cracked on volume I; top of spine chipped on vol. II; moderate wear all around; still a good, sound, venerable set. With the bookseller ticket of Booth / Bookseller Stationer & Binder / Duke Street, Portland Place / London on the front pastedown of each volume. A commanding figure of the 18th century, Lady Montague evinced an admirable style with her intelligence, independence and sense of adventure. She defiantly noted the prevailing attitudes towards women: "There is no part of the world where our sex is treated with so much contempt as England" -- which is perhaps why she settled in Italy, choosing to live apart from her husband for a period of twenty-three years. She maintained "an undisputed supremacy as hostess in the intellectual society of London, and to her assemblies was, apparently for the first time, applied the now accepted epithet of "blue-stocking" (DNB).