[HAZLITT, William (1778-1830)]. Liber Amoris; Or, the New Pygmalion, London, 1823, 12mo, engraved title with portrait (some very light staining), contemporary red half morocco. FIRST EDITION. Provenance: ANTHONY EDEN (1897-1977, 1st Earl of Avon).

[HAZLITT, William (1778-1830)].  Liber Amoris; Or, the New Pygmalion. London: "Printed for John Hunt ... by C. H. Reynell," 1823. 12mo (172 x 195mm). Engraved title with a small oval portrait of Sarah Walker (some very light mainly marginal staining and spotting, the year of publication in the imprint partly cropped). Contemporary red half morocco gilt (extremities rubbed, head of spine torn). Provenance: ANTHONY EDEN (1897-1977, 1st Earl of Avon); Samuel Sanders (old signature to front pastedown). FIRST EDITION of this impassioned - some might say 'unhinged' - autobiographical work which was, for obvious reasons, published anonymously. Indeed, the "Advertisement" at the beginning claims that the author has died prior to the book's publication "... of disappointment preying on a sickly frame and morbid state of mind." Following an estrangement from his first wife, Hazlitt took lodgings in Chancery Lane where he developed an obsessive passion for his landlord's daughter, Sarah Walker, which "almost verged upon madness" (DNB). Having obtained a divorce from his wife, Hazlitt became convinced " ... that Miss Walker had been all along deceiving him, and preferred a younger lover. He put together the strange book 'Liber Amoris' ... The mask of anonymity was transparent to all the persons concerned, especially as he poured out his grievances to any one who would listen. De Quincey charitably calls the book an 'explosion of frenzy', necessary to 'empty his overburdened spirit.'" (DNB) "... the intensity of his sufferings is obvious through all the absurdities of the Liber Amoris ... At the beginning of 1823 [Hazlitt] was still reluctant to publish [it] but the girl was still burdening his mind, and his biographer suggests the publication was finally decided upon in order to 'burn her out of his thoughts'" (from Keynes' introduction to Hazlitt's Selected Essays (London, Nonesuch Press, 1946). Keynes 67.