[ANON]. The Adventures of a Hackney Coach. London: Printed for G. Kearsly, No 46, Fleet-Street, M.DCC.LXXXI. [1781].
FIRST EDITION. Leather-bound; hardcover; small octavo (17 x 10.5 x 1.5 cm); pp. 6, [2], 150, [2, publisher's advertisement]. English text. Bound in half morocco; spine in compartments with gilt bands and lettering; marbled boards, page edges, and endpapers; half-title; publisher's advertisement to final leaf recto. The armorial bookplate of Sir Henry Perceval de Bathe (4th Baronet, 1823–1907) to front pastedown. Condition: VERY GOOD. Collated complete. Binding tight and secure, the covers with light rubbing to the extremities. Interior lightly toned with some spotting mostly confined to the endpapers. Previous owner name neatly inked to half-title and title. Extremely scarce.
Notes: An exceptionally rare first edition copy of this popular piece, written in a Sternean style and employing the "it-narrative" (a story told from the perspective of an inanimate object). It is often, probably erroneously, attributed to Dorothy Kilner, perhaps because her sister-in-law Mary Ann had produced The Adventures of a Pincushion at about this date. First edition copies are rare; ESTC locates only three UK copies, at the Bishopsgate Institute, British Library, and Bodleian Library. [ESTC No.N42509].
