The Virgin Unmask'd: or, Female Dialogues, betwixt an Elderly Maiden Lady, and her Niece, on Several Diverting Discourses on Love, Marriage, Memoirs, Morals, &c. of the Times. The Fourth Edition by MANDEVILLE, BERNARD - 1742

London: Printed for T. Cooper, 1742, 1742. Fourth edition; the first was published in 1709. NCBEL II, 1096; ESTC T57159. Text somewhat smudged and soiled; some minor chips and tears to the margins; a few faint damp-stains; very good copy.. 8vo, contemporary calf with gilt rules and raised bands. An interesting variation on the courtesy book in ten dialogues between Lucinda, the elderly spinster aunt, and Antonia, her niece, in which Bernard Mandeville explores matrimony, child bearing, women's sexuality and happiness. The first dialogue begins with the aunt admonishing her niece for wearing a dress that reveals so much of her cleavage: She tells her: "Women, in strictness, should never appear in Public but veil'd; at least Young Women should never shew their Faces to any Men, but their nearest Relations." Mandeville (1670-1733) was a master of the dialogue form and used it most successfully in his Fable of the Bees. Scholars have made a case that the elderly aunt is based on English author Mary Astell (1666-1773), who is often referred to as "the first English feminist."