[DEFOE, Daniel ([?]1661-1731)]. The Fortunate Mistress, London, 1724, 8vo, fine engraved frontispiece captioned "The Famous Roxana" (some spotting and staining), contemporary calf. THE VERY RARE FIRST EDITION of Defoe's last novel, published anonymously.

[DEFOE, Daniel ([?]1661-1731)].  The Fortunate Mistress: Or, A History of the Life and Vast Variety of Fortunes of Mademoiselle de Beleau, Afterwards Call'd The Countess de Wintselheim, in Germany. Being the Person known by the Name of the Lady Roxana, in the Time of King Charles II. London: "Printed for T. Warner at the Black-Boy in Peter-Noster Row; W. Meadows ... W. Pepper ... S. Harding ... and T. Edlin," 1724. 8vo (192 x 118mm). Fine engraved frontispiece captioned "The Famous Roxana", title within double-rule border, woodcut headpieces, initials and ornaments to the Preface and the opening of the novel, woodcut ornament at the foot of the recto of the final leaf ([Dd4] (i.e. p.407) (some usual seepage of woodcut ornaments to their rectos or versos not affecting legibility, printer's crease to one leaf affecting a few letters [see illustration of p.399], occasional light spotting, staining and browning, more pronounced to the lower margins of the second half of the novel, a few darker spots, mainly at gutters, but the text generally crisp and clean). Contemporary polished panelled calf, the spine with five raised bands and red morocco lettering-piece (the left part of the lettering piece torn away with the loss of two letters, a small patch of abrasion to the upper cover with the loss of one blind-stamped fleuron, possibly re-backed at some point preserving the old spine and lettering-piece, but, if so, barely discernibly, some ink staining to the spine, some light rubbing to the extremities, some staining to the endpapers). FIRST EDITION of Defoe's last novel, a proto-feminist work which features one of "... the strongest and most important women characters in the history of literature" (DNB). It was first published anonymously, probably because of its scandalous nature, and was not widely attributed to Defoe until 1775; the present, first, edition was the only one published in the author's lifetime. "This purports to be the autobiography of Mlle. Beleau, the beautiful daughter of French Protestant refugees, brought up in England and married to a London brewer, who, having squandered his property, deserts her and her five children. She enters upon a career of prosperous wickedness, passing from one protector to another in England, France and Holland, amassing much wealth, and receiving the name Roxana by accident, in consequence of a dance she performs. She is accompanied in her adventures by a faithful maid, Amy, a very human figure. She finally marries a Dutch merchant and lives as a person of consequence in Holland, until he discovers her deceit. He shortly afterwards dies, leaving her only a small sum of money. She is imprisoned for debt, and dies in a state of penitence" (The Oxford Companion to English Literature, ed. Drabble, 1985). Furbank & Owens A Critical Bibliography of Daniel Defoe 218; Rothschild 780. ESTC lists only three copies in UK institutions. RARE.