William Brown, 1789

[BROWN, William Hill (1765-1793).] The Power of Sympathy. Boston: Isaiah Thomas, 1789.

First edition, in a contemporary binding, of one of the first American novels and an early American discussion of literary criticism. Purportedly an enlightened warning to women everywhere on the dangers of "seduction" and the importance of rationality over emotion, this anonymously-published novel is a pulpy tale of kidnapping, accidental incest, and suicide. Authorship was attributed for some time to the American poet Sarah Wentworth Apthorp Morton, by whose family scandal the book was loosely inspired, but it is now generally agreed that it was her neighbor, William Hill Brown, who composed the story. The families whose story was mined for dramatic content in the novel worked to limit its circulation, contributing to its rarity today. Only one other copy, the Theodore Baum copy in these rooms, is recorded at auction by RBH in over 30 years.

The Power of Sympathy is a distinctly American take on the European genre of the epistolary romance, informed by works like Clarissa and Les Liaisons dangereuses—but with lavish descriptions of the Rhode Island landscape and frank discussion of American chattel slavery. It also may be counted as perhaps one of the first distinctly American works of literary criticism, containing long reflections on the nature and purposes of literature and its role in moral formation, especially for women. This copy is BAL state B of the text (no priority determined). BAL 1518.

Two volumes, 12mo (167 x 101mm). Title page in each volume, engraved frontispiece by Samuel Hill in vol. 1 (title pages and frontispiece dustsoiled with small chips and repairs at edges, vol 2. title with patch repair effecting a letter of the subtitle; blank lower margins of leaves R2 and X2 renewed, a few other unobtrusive repairs, some spotting). Contemporary sheep, morocco title label (rebacked, corners showing); modern chemises and box. Provenance: a number of partially washed early inscriptions – Anson Pratt (inscription on title of vol 1) – Frances W. Ellzey (gift inscription from her mother in vol 2).