[Lydia Bailey] THE SEARCH AFTER HAPPINESS: A PASTORAL DRAMA. TO WHICH IS ADDED, JOSEPH MADE KNOWN TO HIS BRETHREN: A SACRED DRAMA by [More, Hannah] - 1811

Philadelphia: Printed by Lydia Bailey for Jonson and Warner, 1811. Original Wrappers. Very Good+ binding. Small 12mo. 72 pp., frontis. First authorized American edition. As issued, in stiff speckled wrappers. One page shows minor loss to the margin because it was printed on an imperfect sheet--no loss of text; some ink smearing to that leaf only. Generally, this is a remarkably nice copy of an early American edition printed by Lydia Bailey.

Bailey took over her husband Robert Bailey's print shop after his death in 1808 and ran in until she retired and closed the shop in 1861. Karen Nipps in her biographical sketch writes, "Bailey was the master printer of a shop that at its peak was one of the largest in the city, employing more than forty workers. . . . [S]he transformed her husband's floundering business into one of the busiest printing establishments in Philadelphia. Although previous generations of printers' widows had continued their husbands' careers, they had done so only long enough to remarry, have a mature son take over, or fold the business; Lydia Bailey made the business a success and never relinquished control of it" (Oxford American National Biography). For better than a half a century Bailey was a force with which to reckon. A beautiful example of an early imprint. Shaw & Shoemaker 23434; Nipps Checklist, 55; Hudak 24-30; Rosenback 442.