98. Moody (Elizabeth) Poetic Trifles, half-title, occasional damp-staining, contemporary olive straight-grain morocco, gilt, stained, by H. Baldwin and Son for T. Cadell, Jun. and W. Davies, 1798.
est. £300 – £400
Elizabeth Greenly was born in Kingston, Surrey in 1737 to a wealthy family. From an early age she was a booklover and regularly composed and privately circulated her verse. At age 40 she married the dissenting clergyman Christopher Lake Moody. Soon after she began to publish her work in the General Evening Post and the Gentleman's Magazine. The poems in Poetic Trifles are overwhelmingly social, commemorating occasions or addressing figures such as as Erasmus Darwin, Joseph Priestley, Samuel Johnson, and the politician John Wilkes.