MANDEVILLE (Bernard): 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. , London: Printed for T. Cooper..., 1742.

8vo, 165 x 97 mms., pp. x, [8], [17] - 232, 235 - 239 [240 blank], contemporary calf; title-page soiled, text fingered, pages toned, lightly browned to margins, several leaves nicked/ chipped to fore-edges, into text at pp. 35, some scattered smudging and marking, ink spotting to a few margins, corners turned/ creased at points, a few upper leaves dampstained to lower margin, covers detached, binding worn. Admonishing her niece for revealing so much of her cleavage in his upper garment, the "Maiden Lady" seems to anticipate the burka: "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." As ODNB notes, the work begins in almost pornographic fashion, but "quickly disappeared as the discussion turned to the undesirability of marriage and the harmful effects of child bearing on women, two proto-novels, and a discussion of the dangers posed by Louis XIV to Europe's peace and security." Mandeville 1630 - 1733) published this in 1709. ESTC T57159 locates copies in BL, Bodleian, TCD, Leeds Brotherton; Duke, McGill, UCLA. (Book ref. 7057 )  £ 200.00

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