LETTERS WRITTEN DURING A JOURNEY IN SPAIN AND A SHORT RESIDENCE IN PORTUGAL [2 volumes]

London: Longmans, Hurst, Rees, and Orme, 1808. Book. Very Good. Full Leather. Third Edition. 12mo. "third edition corrected & amended". 2 uniform volumes bound in contemporary, full straight-grained green morocco, original half titles, front and rear blanks all present. Pp. vol. I: vi, 310, [4]; vol II: [2], vii, [1], 300, [2 - table of distances], [2 - publisher's adverts], [2 - blanks] Printed by J. D. Dewick, 46, Barbican. Bindings with blind stamped decoration to the boards, gilt lettering and decoration to the spines, gilt dentelles to the corners, turn-ins with decorative gilt borders, very good with a little general wear and rubbing, very small chip to the head of rear joint to vol. II and small, inconspicuous repair to the head of the rear joint to vol. I. Content clean and tight, original brown end papers, attractive copperplate inscription to the front blanks of both volumes "Maria Sudell, Woodfold Park 1813 Given to Elizabeth Sudell Sep 1824". [see below for biography of Maria Sudell and family] A very good to fine set. [Bibliographic note: First published in 1797, the second edition published in 1799 with this edition appearing a few years later. The work records Southey's visit to the Peninsular with his uncle, the Rev. Herbert Hill, immediately after his own marriage. "a richly detailed account of his journey in Spain and Portugal between December 1795 and May 1796, from his arrival in Coruna in the northwest of the Spanish coast to the heart of Castile and into Madrid, before making his way to Lisbon. Structured as a series of letters written as he travelled across the Iberian Peninsula, Letters Written During a Short Residence in Spain and Portugal engages with the tradition of English travelogues, while borrowing traits from other genres such as the journal, translation, literary criticism, history, and the picturesque guidebook. On his way, Southey comments on every aspect of Spanish and Portuguese society, from local food and wine, bizarre customs, literature and theatregoing, to Iberian politics and religion. In his letters Southey, who would grow to become one of the leading Hispanists in late Georgian England, contrasts the political, religious, cultural and social systems of Britain and two of the oldest nations in the European continent in a way that raises important questions about cultural contact and transmission during the Romantic period."] Biography; Maria Sudell nee Maria Livesey, 1782 - 1848, wife to Henry Sudell, 1764 - 1856. "Henry Sudell...a Blackburn cotton merchant and manufacturer who, at the height of his success, was reputed to be a millionaire, a fantastic sum of money for the early 1800s. He became the most influential merchant and manufacturer in Blackburn; he bought the Woodfold estate and built Woodfold Hall at Mellor. Here he lived in a regal state with a deerpark, wildfowl and his own pack of hounds. His entry into Blackburn was regarded as a state occasion when he came in his magnificent carriage, drawn by four perfectly matched horses, ridden by postilions in a livery of crimson and gold. All caps were doffed at his approach! But his wealth and his charitable giving all came crashing down in 1827 when he speculated on the Continental and American cotton markets. The price of cotton plummeted and he was bankrupted...Prior to the news of his losses being made public, Henry Sudell and his family left Woodfold secretly in the middle of the night to hide their shame." [Libby Ashworth].