Hannah Foster, 1797

[FOSTER, Hannah Webster (1758-1840).] The Coquette; or, the History of Eliza Wharton; a Novel; Founded on Fact. By a Lady of Massachusetts. Boston: Printed by Samuel Etheridge for E. Larkin, 1797.

First edition of Foster's epistolary novel, published anonymously in 1797. The first novel written by a native-born American woman. The Coquette "count[ered] received ideas on women's circumscribed power and authority, [and] was an important voice in the debate on women's role in the Republic" (Davidson, p.11). Foster hailed from Salisbury, Massachusetts, the daughter of a wealthy merchant. Her mother died when she was four or five years old, at which point she was sent to boarding school. Afterward she lived in Boston, writing political articles for local newspapers, before marrying Reverend John Foster in 1785 and settling in Brighton. The mother of six children, The Coquette was her first novel. Rare: RBH records the most recent copy of the first edition selling in 1954 in Jean Hersholt's sale.

The Coquette's ripped-from-the-headlines story of sex and betrayal was loosely based on the infamous love affairs and ultimate downfall of Elizabeth Whitman. Whitman, a distant cousin of Foster's husband, hailed from a respected Connecticut family and by all accounts was accomplished and admired. After breaking off at least two engagements, she had an ill-fated affair that left her pregnant and abandoned. The father was thought to be Pierpont Edwards—the son of the accomplished theologian and philosopher Jonathan Edwards who led New England's first "Great Awakening"—which only added to the scandal. Whitman disappeared from the public eye but resurfaced in July 1788 at the Bell Tavern in Danvers, Massachusetts. There she gave birth to a stillborn child, dying alone soon after. Whitman’s heartbreaking story was reported in the Salem Mercury and in the years that followed she developed a cult following, with fans apparently making pilgrimages to her gravesite and breaking off pieces of her tombstone for souvenirs. See Davidson, Revolution and the Word (1986). Evans 32142.

12mo (170 x 90mm). Half-title (front endpaper with repair at margin; half-title reinserted with gutter strengthened; repaired marginal tears; pp. 167 & 255 with margins renewed; a few leaves with tears touching text). Contemporary sheep (rebacked, corners showing).