JACSON, Frances Margaretta (1754-1842). Plain Sense, a Novel. London: William Lane, Minerva Press, 1795. 3 vols., 12° (169 x 103mm). Half-title in each vol. (light spotting, a few marginal tears, some mainly marginal waterstaining in vol. II, B5v-B6r of vol. II slightly soiled, some quires in vols. I and III pulled and some leaves becoming loose). Contemporary calf-backed marbled boards with vellum corner tips (spines worn). Provenance: [Newton Hall, Northumberland].

JACSON, Frances Margaretta (1754-1842). Plain Sense, a Novel. London: William Lane, Minerva Press, 1795. 3 vols., 12° (169 x 103mm). Half-title in each vol. (light spotting, a few marginal tears, some mainly marginal waterstaining in vol. II, B5v-B6r of vol. II slightly soiled, some quires in vols. I and III pulled and some leaves becoming loose). Contemporary calf-backed marbled boards with vellum corner tips (spines worn). Provenance: [Newton Hall, Northumberland].

FIRST EDITION OF THE AUTHOR'S 'POPULAR FIRST NOVEL'. The two unmarried sisters, Maria and Frances, both turned to writing, partly in order to help out their brother Shallcross Jacson (d. 1821) who was 'over-fond of drink and horse-racing', Maria turning to manuals on botany and gardening, and Frances to fiction (see ODNB). Their other brother, Roger, had a son Shallcross Fitzherbert Jacson (1826-1917) who married Frances, daughter of the Rev. Joseph Cook of Newton Hall, and who inherited the house in 1856, following the death of his wife's brother, Samuel Edward Cook (later Widdrington). RARE. NO COPY IN BL and only two copies recorded in the British Isles (National Trust and private collection). Blakey, p. 172. (3)