The Adventures of a Bank-Note.

BRIDGES, Thomas.

Item Number: 101891

London: Printed for T. Davis, 1770-71.

First edition of the scarce “witness” novel. Octavo, 4 volumes, bound in full contemporary calf, red morocco spine labels. From the library of Henry Charles Somerset, sixth Duke of Beaufort, and with his armorial bookplate to the front pastedown of each volume and with his ownership signature to the front free endpaper of the first volume. In very good condition.

One of the classics of the so-called "it-narrative" or "speaking-object" genre, in which an inanimate object or an animal tells the story of its circulation through various hands, the most popular, perhaps, being Charles Johnstone's "Chrysal: or, the adventures of a guinea" (1760) and Francis Coventry's "Pompey the Little: or, the life and adventures of a lap-dog" (1751) which both went into numerous editions.