(CONSOLATION LITERATURE). [CECIL, Richard]. A Friendly Visit to the House of Mourning.

A Hartford Imprint in Contemporary Wrappers

(CONSOLATION LITERATURE). [CECIL, Richard]. A Friendly Visit to the House of Mourning. (Hartford, CT: Printed by Lincoln & Gleason, 1805) 72 pp. (134 x 84 mm.)  Contemporary marbled wrappers, stitched at center. Woodcut tailpiece. Ink ownership signature to title. With little rubbing to wrappers, a number of corners creased, light dampstain to preliminary leaves. A very good copy.

An early American edition of a popular religious guide to bereavement, offered here in its contemporary wrappers.

First published in London in 1792, this work was reprinted numerous times in the 19th century and became a favorite piece of "consolation literature" during the Victorian period. The author, Richard Cecil (1748-1810) was an evangelical preacher in the Church of England. According to DNB, " He had the power of seizing the attention of his hearers, developing an argument and illustrating it vividly, and expressing it with what Daniel Wilson in his funeral sermon described as 'a lucid perspicuity.'" (1016)