George Watterston, 1808

[WATTERSTON, George (1783-1854).] The Lawyer, or Man as he ought not to be. A Tale. Pittsburgh: for Zadok Cramer, 1808.

First edition of a pulpy novel by the third Librarian of Congress, untrimmed in a contemporary binding. Ostensibly the confessions of a corrupt lawyer and seducer in the mode of Memoirs of Stephen Burroughs, Watterston's ironic take on the didactic novel hovers on the border between the Gothic thrillers of Charles Brockden Brown and dark comedy, with his protagonist displaying an usual self-awareness of the conceits of his chosen genre. Only one copy recorded in the last hundred years at auction, and in considerably worse condition. Wright 2683; Sabin 102163.

12mo (194 x 115mm). Engraved frontispiece by Kneass (some browning). Contemporary half sheep and marbled boards, untrimmed (spine neatly restored); modern cloth box.