CHATTERTON, Lady. Rambles in the South of Ireland during the year 1838. With eight lithographic plates and numerous engravings. Two volumes.

London: Saunders, 1839. Foolscap octavo. First edition. pp. (1) xi, [1], 312, (2) vi, [1], 328. Modern half calf on marbled boards, title in gilt on double black morocco labels on spine. A very good set. Extremely rare.
COPAC locates 3 sets only of the first edition. Elmes and Hewson 2012.
Lady Henrietta Chatterton (1806-76), author, was born in Piccadilly, the only child of Rev. Lascelles Iremonger, prebendary of Winchester. She married in 1824 Sir William Abraham Chatterton, of Castle Mahon, County Cork. The Great Famine deprived them of rents from their estate and they retired to England. After his death in 1855, she married secondly Edward Heneage Dering, retired Coldstream Guards officer. Shortly after their marriage Dering was received into the Catholic church and was followed ten years later by Lady Chatterton. A prolific writer of wide interests with over thirty publications to her credit, Cardinal Newman praised the refinement of thought in her later works. Her high moral standards and her desire to do good are reflected in her writings. Lady Chatterton’s heartfelt enthusiasm is evident as she discovers the hidden delights of counties Cork, Kerry, Limerick and Clare. In the advertisement she acknowledges the kindness of Mr. Crofton Croker for historical material, and states: “My principal object in publishing this book is to endeavour to remove some of the prejudices which render so many people afraid either to travel or reside in Ireland ... and to furnish the most decided proofs that a tour in some of its wildest districts may be keenly enjoyed by an Englishwoman”. The work is enhanced by a series of delightful plates: Sugar Loaf Mountain, Bantry Bay; Near Adrigoole; Allihees Mines; Derrynane Abbey; Kingston Cave; Quin Abbey; Part of St. Dominick’s Friary, Kilmallock; Mitchelstown Castle.

[L3 2A]