THE CONTRAST: A NOVEL, by Elizabeth Sarah Villa-Real Gooch.

Printed and Sold by Joseph Johnson, Wilmington, Delaware, 1796. First American Edition.

Hardcovers, leather covered boards (front cover detached but present), leather title label on spine, 4x6 inches (10x16 cm), 156 pages..

There is a circa 1800 printed bookplate on the front pastedown from "Daniel Steele's Circulating Library". (A July 30, 1810 notice, found on the Internet, states "Mrs. Tiffany of Albany took possession of the books in Daniel Steel's Circulating Library consisting of about two thousand volumes." A foreclosure perhaps?)

Condition: Top board detached but present, rear hinge split but holding with the cord bindings, first blank endpaper (with previous owner's 1804 inscription) is coming loose but holding, there is a closed slit across page 13 that appears to be a binder's error, the inner pages are toned and have some foxing, the early pages have light shorelining; overall a complete copy with text that is always bright and fully legible.

RARE 18th CENTURY AMERICAN / DELAWARE IMPRINT, with an interesting association to an 18th century Wilmington, Delaware, circulating library.

About the author ELIZABETH SARAH VILLA-REAL GOOCH (from Wikipedia):

******Elizabeth Sarah Gooch was born Elizabeth Sarah Villa-Real in Edwinstowe. Following her father's death, she received a substantial inheritance, but her mother arranged a marriage for her to William Gooch in 1775 before she realized that she was financially independent.

Her husband took control of her money and abandoned her in Lille in 1778.

For a time, she was an actress with a theatre company in Portsmouth. She was also involved in liaisons with various princes and military leaders. By the time she published An Appeal to the Public in 1788, she had been imprisoned for debt. In 1792, she published The Life of Mrs. Gooch. She went on to publish a collection of poetry and a number of novels including The Contrast (1795).******

What an interesting woman. When is the movie coming out?