DOYLE, Arthur Conan; KERR, Charles, illustrator

Sign of Four, the

London: Spencer Blackett, 1890. This is all an insoluble mystery to me," said I. "It grows darker instead of clearer." "On the contrary," he answered, "it clears every instant." 'The Sign of Four' The Second Sherlock Holmes Story A Fine Example in the Original Cloth DOYLE, A[rthur] Conan. The Sign of Four. London: Spencer Blackett, 1890. First edition in book form, second issue binding, with foot of spine reading "Griffith Farran & Co.s. Standard Library." Octavo (7 1/2 x 5 inches; 190 x 127 mm.). [4], 283, [1, blank] pp. Frontispiece by Charles Kerr, with tissue guard. With the numeral "138" on the contents page incomplete and reading "13," as usual, and with "wished" appearing as "w shed" on p. 56, line 16. Publisher's dark red fine-ribbed cloth blocked in black with front cover and spine lettered in gilt. All edges uncut. Dark brown coated end-papers. The bare minimum of rubbing to corners and spine extremities, the original endpapers fine, inner hinges untouched. One of the best copies that we have ever seen. "The [remaining] sheets of the first edition were reissued by Griffith Farran and Company with the original [Spencer Blackett] title-page. The covers are the same though the imprint at the foot of the spine reads: "Griffith Farran & C.o.s/Standard/Library " Dark brown endpapers. Issued 1891. There are 8 pp. of publisher's advertisements in some copies, though not all. (Green & Gibson, p. 34). The second Sherlock Holmes story after A Study in Scarlet (1888). At the time, it received only moderate success, but after the publication of the stories in Adventures (1892) and Memoirs (1894) its popularity soared. Originally titled "The Sign of the Four; or, The Problem of the Sholtos," this early Sherlock Holmes mystery was first published in Lippincott's Monthly Magazine, Philadelphia, February 1890, and was first published in book form that October in London. The plot concerns Holmes's investigation into the murder of Bartholomew Sholto, his search for Jonathan Small and the Agra treasure, and Watson's romance with Mary Morstan. Green and Gibson A7a.i. .

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Book number: 04987

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: KERR, Charles, illustrator Literature Mystery and Detective Fiction Nineteenth-Century Literature

DOYLE, Arthur Conan; DOYLE, Charles, illustrator

A Study in Scarlet

London: Ward, Lock and Co. 1888. I consider that a man's brain originally is like a little empty attic, and you have to stock it with such furniture as you choose." A Great Detective's Debut, or The Case of The Missing Rare Book DOYLE, Arthur Conan. A Study in Scarlet. London: Ward, Lock and Co. 1888 [i.e. March 1889]. First edition in book form of the first Sherlock Holmes story (preceded only by the story's appearance in Beeton's Christmas Annual 1887). Second impression with mis-spelling "youuger" for younger in the second paragraph of the publishers' preface. Octavo (7 1/4 x 4 3/4 inches; 185 x 121 mm.). [iii] title; [iv] blank; [v] publisher's preface (with paragraph 2, line 3: youuger); [vi] blank; [vii] contents; [viii] blank [1]- [169]; [170] blank; advertisements; [171- 182] pp. With six line drawings within the text by Charles Doyle, the author's father, on pp. 32, 57, 64, 98, 124, 158. The title-page has been very neatly repaired at the edges and pp. 75-78 with very slight fore marginal loss not affecting text. Bound without the leaf of advertisements preceding the title-page and the last leaf of advertisements at the end (pp. 183/4). Handsomely rebound in late nineteenth century style full red polished calf, covers double-ruled in gilt, spine with five raised bands decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, gilt decorated board edges and turn-ins, cockerel endpapers, all edges uncut. A fine uncut copy with all but two of the advertisement leaves present. The first Sherlock Holmes story and the author's first published work. One of the select band of fabled rarities and therefore a keystone book for any collector of either Detective Fiction, Modern Literature or indeed for any collector of high spots. It requires the ingenuity of a Holmes to find an example of this book. A Study in Scarlet was written during March and April of 1886. It was accepted finally by Ward Lock in November 1886, after having been rejected by James Payn, the Editor of the Cornhill Magazine, Arrowsmith's, who received it in May and returned it unread in July and then Warne's who turned it down immediately. Ward Lock proposed to publish the story in their magazine, "Beeton's Christmas Annual" for 1887, but they drove a very hard bargain and forced the young doctor to sell his entire interest in the story for £25.00. They definitely had a very good deal for the 'Beetons' issue was sold out in two weeks and Ward Lock then decided to issue A Study in Scarlet in a more permanent book form with illustrations. This, the actual first edition in book form appeared in July of 1888. The second impression, as offered here was issued in March of 1889 at one shilling. It cannot have surprised Ward Lock that Doyle refused any further dealings with them, and he wrote to Blackwood's early in 1888 of the success of his first novel: 'Messrs. Ward, Lock & Co. are now busy bringing it out in a more permanent form with new type, illustrations, & everything.' The illustrations were to be by Charles Doyle, the author's father, who was by then confined to an asylum on account of his epilepsy and alcoholism. The six frail drawings bear no relation to later conceptions of the subject but are of interest none the less. The size of the first edition in 1888 (both first and second impressions) is not known but the story was not published again until the first American edition by J.B. Lippincott Company in 1890. The second issue here offered appears to be as scarce as the first issue with just a handful of copies of either issue in institutions worldwide. A Study in Scarlet. The story marks the first appearance of Sherlock Holmes and Dr. Watson, who would become the most famous detective duo in popular fiction. The book's title derives from a speech given by Holmes, a consulting detective, to his friend and chronicler Watson on the nature of his work, in which he describes the story's murder investigation as his "study in scarlet": "There's the scarlet thread of murder running through the colourless skein of life, and our duty is to unravel it, and isolate it, and expose every inch of it." The story, and its main characters, attracted little public interest when it first appeared. Only 11 complete copies of the magazine in which the story first appeared, Beeton's Christmas Annual for 1887, are known to exist now and they have considerable value. Although Conan Doyle wrote 56 short stories featuring Holmes, A Study in Scarlet is one of only four full-length novels in the original canon. The novel was followed by The Sign of the Four, published in 1890. A Study in Scarlet was the first work of detective fiction to incorporate the magnifying glass as an investigative tool. Green and Gibson A1a.i.; De Waal 417. .

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Book number: 04933

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: DOYLE, Charles, illustrator Mystery and Detective Fiction Nineteenth-Century Literature

DOYLE, Arthur Conan

Three of Them

London: John Murray, 1923. This little book is an attempt to catch some of the fleeting phases of childhood.." (Introduction) DOYLE, Arthur Conan. Three of Them. A Reminiscence.. With a Frontispiece. London: John Murray, 1923. First English edition. Small octavo (6 3/4 x 4 3/4 inches; 172 x 120 mm.). viii, 99, 1, blank], [4, advertisements] pp. Sepia toned frontispiece on leaded paper tipped-in. Publisher's red linen spine over gray boards. Spine with printed paper label. Original pictorial dust jacket, minimal wear to extremities. Some light offset from publisher's glue on endpapers, otherwise a fine copy. Three of them is a series of five short stories that were first published in The Strand Magazine from April to December 1918. On 2nd November 1923, John Murray added two other short stories Billy Bones (1922) and The Forbidden Subject (1923) to the five, making a total of seven, with an introduction written by Doyle. .

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Book number: 05003

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: Children's Books Modern Firsts

DULAC, Edmund; Crary, Mary

Daughters of the Stars, the

London: Hatchard & Co. 1939. A Fairy Story Full of Grace, Beauty, Wit, Humor and Charm" [DULAC, Edmund, illustrator]. CRARY, Mary. The Daughters of the Stars. Illustrated by Edmund Dulac. London: Hatchard & Co. 1939. First edition. One of 500 numbered copies (this copy being No. 233), signed by the author and the artist. Quarto (10 1/8 x 7 15/16 inches; 257 x 201 mm.). [10], 189, [1], [1, printer's imprint], [1, blank] pp. Two color plates. Original quarter vellum over gray cloth boards. Spine with navy leather label lettered in gilt. Corners a little bit bumped. One small chip to spine label. An excellent copy. "Publication of this book encountered delays and difficulties because of the outbreak of World War II. Since paper and workmen were fast being commandeered by the British government, the book was rushed into print despite the fact that only 2 Dulac illustrations were finished. Once published, the book received mixed reviews. It was featured at Christmas 1939 as ‘Something sane in a mad world' in Hatchard's show windows in Piccadilly..The following spring, in America, The New York Times critic (June 3, 1940) was less enthusiastic in his review of the book, saying ‘..for most young readers the book will seem too long drawn out..' but added ‘Dulac has supplied two lovely pictures in blue and silver tones'..The redoubtable William Lyon Phelps of Yale also wrote a review stating that Mary Crary's book ‘..is a fairy story full of grace, beauty, wit humor and charm..It is meant to be very high praise when I add that the illustrations by Dulac are worthy of the book. They add to its beauty'" (Hughey). Dulac designed the entire format of the volume, including chapter head and tail scroll designs. Hughey 91. .

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Book number: 00816

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: Crary, Mary Children's Books Illustrated Books Signed Limited Edition Children's Books Illustrated Books Modern Firsts Literature

DULAC, Edmund, illustrator; MILTON, John; [LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB]

Masque of Comus, the

New York: Printed for the Members of The Limited Editions Club at the University Press, Cambridge, 1954. John Milton's "Masque of Comus"— the Last Book Illustrated by Edmund Dulac [LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB, The]. [DULAC, Edmund, Illustrator] MILTON, John. The Masque of Comus. The Poem by John Milton, with a Preface by Mark Van Doren & The Airs by Henry Lawes, with a Preface by Hubert Foss. Illustrated with Water-Colors by Edmund Dulac. [New York]: Printed for the Members of The Limited Editions Club at the University Press, Cambridge, 1954. Limited to 1,500 numbered copies (this copy being No. 269). Quarto (10 3/8 x 7 7/16 inches; 263 x 189 mm.). [8], 57, [2], [1, blank], [12, music], [1, blank], [1, colophon] pp. Six color plates, including frontispiece. Original quarter parchment over marbled boards. Spine lettered in gilt. Top edge gilt. A near fine copy. In the original black cardboard slipcase with spine lettered in gilt. "By November 1951, Dulac no longer had working arrangements with American Weekly. He was recovered from his March 1949 heart attack. The second Dulac-Macy book, The Marriage of Cupid and Pysche..had just been distributed in the spring and fall of 1951. Dulac now sought to take up with George Macy Co. the work on pictures for Baron Munchausen that he had put aside when, in July 1948, Macy had agreed to suspend his contract. Dulac was disappointed to learn that Macy had already acquired the illustrations he had needed for Munchausen from Fritz Kredel. But Macy quickly suggested to Dulac several new titles, Amphitryon, Iolanthe, and Comus. Dulac chose Comus. Dulac was to paint 10 pictures..His pace was slow. He did not get started until June 1952. By October he had finished two illustrations. By April 24, 1953, he reported to Macy that he had completed 4 more for a total of 6. A few weeks later, on May 30, Helen Beauclerk wrote Macy of Dulac's death on May 25th. She told Macy that as recently as May 21st, Dulac had been working on his 7th Comus illustration..Comus was the 250th book Macy had made for his Limited Editions Club. It was nearly his last, as he died in 1956 at age 56. Like all his books, Macy's Comus is a beautiful production" (Hughey). "Illustrated with water-colors by Edmund Dulac, printed in process offset by Sun Engraving Company; designed by John Dreyfus; printed and bound by the Cambridge University Press; set in monotype Bembo; Barcham Green hand-made paper; half vellum, gold-stamped, marbled paper sides; 94 pages" (LEC Bibliography). Hughey 103. LEC Bibliography 250. .

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Book number: 03382

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: MILTON, John [LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB] Illustrated Books Poetry English Literature Music Fine Printing Illustrated Books Fine Printing Literature Music

DULAC, Edmund; [LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB]; MILTON, John

Masque of Comus, the

New York: Printed for the Members of The Limited Editions Club at the University Press, Cambridge, 1954. John Milton's "Masque of Comus"— the Last Book Illustrated by Edmund Dulac [LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB, The]. [DULAC, Edmund, Illustrator] MILTON, John. The Masque of Comus. The Poem by John Milton, with a Preface by Mark Van Doren & The Airs by Henry Lawes, with a Preface by Hubert Foss. Illustrated with Water-Colors by Edmund Dulac. [New York]: Printed for the Members of The Limited Editions Club at the University Press, Cambridge, 1954. Limited to 1,500 numbered copies (this copy being No. 671). Quarto (10 3/8 x 7 7/16 inches; 263 x 189 mm.). [8], 57, [2], [1, blank], [12, music], [1, blank], [1, colophon] pp. Six color plates, including frontispiece. Original quarter parchment over marbled boards. Spine lettered in gilt. Top edge gilt. A fine copy. In the original black cardboard slipcase with spine lettered in gilt. "By November 1951, Dulac no longer had working arrangements with American Weekly. He was recovered from his March 1949 heart attack. The second Dulac-Macy book, The Marriage of Cupid and Pysche..had just been distributed in the spring and fall of 1951. Dulac now sought to take up with George Macy Co. the work on pictures for Baron Munchausen that he had put aside when, in July 1948, Macy had agreed to suspend his contract. Dulac was disappointed to learn that Macy had already acquired the illustrations he had needed for Munchausen from Fritz Kredel. But Macy quickly suggested to Dulac several new titles, Amphitryon, Iolanthe, and Comus. Dulac chose Comus. Dulac was to paint 10 pictures..His pace was slow. He did not get started until June 1952. By October he had finished two illustrations. By April 24, 1953, he reported to Macy that he had completed 4 more for a total of 6. A few weeks later, on May 30, Helen Beauclerk wrote Macy of Dulac's death on May 25th. She told Macy that as recently as May 21st, Dulac had been working on his 7th Comus illustration..Comus was the 250th book Macy had made for his Limited Editions Club. It was nearly his last, as he died in 1956 at age 56. Like all his books, Macy's Comus is a beautiful production" (Hughey). "Illustrated with water-colors by Edmund Dulac, printed in process offset by Sun Engraving Company; designed by John Dreyfus; printed and bound by the Cambridge University Press; set in monotype Bembo; Barcham Green hand-made paper; half vellum, gold-stamped, marbled paper sides; 94 pages" (LEC Bibliography). Hughey 103. LEC Bibliography 250. .

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Book number: 00833

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: [LIMITED EDITIONS CLUB] MILTON, John Illustrated Books Poetry English Literature Music Fine Printing Illustrated Books Fine Printing Literature Music

EGERTON, Michael

A Day's Journal of a Sponge

London: Published for the Proprietor, by Rowney & Forster, 1824. The Misadventures of a Regency Free-Loader Told in Six Beautifully Hand-Colored Aquatint Plates [EGERTON, Michael]. [A Day's Journal of a Sponge. By Peter Pasquin. London: Published for the Proprietor, by Rowney & Forster, 1824]. First edition. Oblong folio (10 3/8 x 14 inches; 264 x 351 mm.). Six bright and beautifully hand-colored aquatint plates with interleaves. The plates are unsigned, with imprint: London, Published by W. Egerton, 1824. Bound without the lithographed title. Watermark: J Whatman Turkey Mill 1826. Bound by Rivière and Son in later red half crushed morocco over red cloth boards. Raised bands. Gilt-lettered compartments. Expertly rebacked with the original spine laid down. An excellent copy. A work of profound rarity with or without the title; OCLC notes only four copies in institutional holdings. Abbey's copy, as this one, also lacked the titlepage. These satiric plates with their lengthy droll and witty captions depict the comic misadventures of a pretentious, social striving man about town free-loader, moocher, muzzler, cadger, touch-artist; a Regency Period slacker who is thick as a brick but convinced otherwise. This work has been attributed by Abbey and Houfe to M[ichael]. Egerton, a social caricaturist who worked in London in the 1820s in the manner of George Cruikshank. The Plates, untitled but each with three-five lines of text that begin: 1. Was stirring with the lark.. 2. Feeling one of those pangs.. 3. Having returned, & hired a Chaise.. 4. Former fears confirmed.. 5. Sauntering down Bond Street.. 6. Being recovered from the effects.. Abbey, Life, 289. Houfe, p. 294. Prideaux, p. 347. .

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Book number: 02595

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: Color-Plate Books Caricatures Nineteenth-Century Literature

ELIOT, George; EVANS, Marion

Adam Bede

Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1859. George Eliot's First Full-Length Novel and her Earliest Popular Success ELIOT, George. Adam Bede. In Three Volumes. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1859. First edition. Three octavo volumes (7 1/8 x 4 1/2 inches; 181 x 114 mm.). [iii-viii], 325, [1, blank]; [iii-viii], 374; [iii-vi], 333, [1, blank] pp. Bound ca. 1865 in three quarter dark blue pebble-grain morocco over marbled boards, ruled in gilt. Spines with five raised bands decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, matching marbled end-papers, all edges gilt. Bound without the half-titles. Some light foxing and staining throughout, moderate on preliminary leaves. A very good set in an attractive and near contemporary binding. George Eliot's first full-length novel and her earliest popular success. Adam Bede, the first novel written by George Eliot (the pen name of Mary Ann Evans), was published in 1859. It was published pseudonymously, even though Evans was a well-published and highly respected scholar of her time. The novel has remained in print ever since, and is used in university studies of 19th-century English literature. The plot is founded on a story told to George Eliot by her aunt Elizabeth Evans, a Methodist preacher, and the original of Dinah Morris of the novel, of a confession of child-murder, made to her by a girl in prison. The story's plot follows four characters' rural lives in the fictional community of Hayslope—a rural, pastoral and close-knit community in 1799. The novel revolves around a love "rectangle" among beautiful but self-absorbed Hetty Sorrel; Captain Arthur Donnithorne, the young squire who seduces her; Adam Bede, her unacknowledged suitor; and Dinah Morris, Hetty's cousin, a fervent, virtuous and beautiful Methodist lay preacher. (The real village where Adam Bede was set is Ellastone on the Staffordshire / Derbyshire border, a few miles from Uttoxeter and Ashbourne, and near to Alton Towers. Eliot's father lived in the village as a carpenter in a substantial house now known as Adam Bede's Cottage). Adam is a local carpenter much admired for his integrity and intelligence, in love with Hetty. She is attracted to Arthur, the charming local squire's grandson and heir, and falls in love with him. When Adam interrupts a tryst between them, Adam and Arthur fight. Arthur agrees to give up Hetty and leaves Hayslope to return to his militia. After he leaves, Hetty Sorrel agrees to marry Adam but shortly before their marriage, discovers she is pregnant. In desperation, she leaves in search of Arthur but she cannot find him. Unwilling to return to the village on account of the shame and ostracism she would have to endure, she delivers her baby with the assistance of a friendly woman she encounters. She subsequently abandons the infant in a field but not being able to bear the child's cries, she tries to retrieve the infant. However, she is too late, the infant having already died of exposure. Hetty is caught and tried for child murder. She is found guilty and sentenced to hang. Dinah enters the prison and pledges to stay with Hetty until the end. Her compassion brings about Hetty's contrite confession. When Arthur Donnithorne, on leave from the militia for his grandfather's funeral, hears of her impending execution, he races to the court and has the sentence commuted to transportation. Ultimately, Adam and Dinah, who gradually become aware of their mutual love, marry and live peacefully with his family. Sadleir 812; Parrish pp. 12/13; Wolff, 2056; Baker & Ross, A4.1. .

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Book number: 03724

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: EVANS, Marion Fine Bindings and Sets Nineteenth-Century Literature Women Scottish Literature

ELIOT, George; EVANS, Marion

Romola

London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1863. George Eliot's Historical Novel set in Fifteenth Century Florence ELIOT, George. Romola. In Three Volumes. London: Smith, Elder and Co. 1863. First edition. Three octavo volumes (7 1/4 x 4 5/8 inches; 184 x 117 mm.). iv, 336; iv, 333, [1, imprint]; iv, 292, pp. Bound ca. 1865 in three quarter dark blue pebble-grain morocco over marbled boards, ruled in gilt. Spines with five raised bands decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments, matching marbled end-papers, all edges gilt. Blank end-leaves foxed and some light foxing to preliminaries. A very good set in an attractive and near contemporary binding. Romola is a historical novel by George Eliot set in the fifteenth century, and is "a deep study of life in the city of Florence from an intellectual, artistic, religious, and social point of view". It first appeared in fourteen parts published in Cornhill Magazine from July 1862 (vol. 6, no. 31) to August 1863 (vol. 8, no. 44). The story takes place amidst actual historical events during the Italian Renaissance, and includes in its plot several notable figures from Florentine history. Florence, 1492: Christopher Columbus has sailed towards the New World, and Florence has just mourned the death of its legendary leader, Lorenzo de' Medici. In this setting, a Florentine trader meets a shipwrecked stranger, who introduces himself as Tito Melema, a young Italianate-Greek scholar. Tito becomes acquainted with several other Florentines, including Nello the barber and a young girl named Tessa. He is also introduced to a blind scholar named Bardo de' Bardi, and his daughter Romola. As Tito becomes settled in Florence, assisting Bardo with classical studies, he falls in love with Romola. However, Tessa falls in love with Tito, and the two are "married" in a mock ceremony.. English novelist George Eliot (pseudonym of Mary Ann, or Marian, Evans, 1819-1880) "was reared in a strict atmosphere of evangelical Protestantism but eventually rebelled and renounced organized religion totally. Her early schooling was supplemented by assiduous reading, and the study of languages led to her first literary work, Life of Jesus (1846), a translation from the German of D.F. Strauss. After her father's death she became subeditor (1851) of the Westminster Review, contributed articles, and came to know many of the literary people of the day. In 1854 she began a long and happy union with G.H. Lewes, which she regarded as marriage, though it involved social ostracism and could have no legal sanction because Lewes's estranged wife was living. Throughout his life Lewes encouraged Evans in her literary career; indeed, it is possible that without him Evans, subject to periods of depression and in constant need of reassurance, would not have written a word. In 1856, Mary Ann began Scenes of Clerical Life, a series of realistic sketches first appearing in Blackwood's Magazine under the pseudonym Lewes chose for her, George Eliot. Although not a popular success, the work was well received by literary critics, particularly Dickens and Thackeray. Three novels of provincial life followed—Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), and Silas Marner (1861). She visited Italy in 1860 and again in 1861 before she brought out in the Cornhill Magazine (1862-63) her historical romance Romola, a story of Savonarola. Felix Holt (1866), a political novel, was followed by The Spanish Gypsy (1868), a dramatic poem. Middlemarch (1871-72), a portrait of life in a provincial town, is considered her masterpiece. She wrote one more novel, Daniel Deronda (1876); the satirical Impressions of Theophrastus Such (1879); and verse, which was never popular and is now seldom read. Lewes died in 1878, and in 1880 she married a close friend of both Lewes and herself, John W. Cross, who later edited George Eliot's Life as Related in Her Letters and Journals (3 vol. 1885-86). Writing about life in small rural towns, George Eliot was primarily concerned with the responsibility that people assume for their lives and with the moral choices they must inevitably make. Although highly serious, her novels are marked by compassion and a subtle humor" (The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition, at http://www.bartleby.com/65/el/Eliot-Ge.html). Sadleir 817; Parrish pp. 17/18; Wolff, 2061; Baker & Ross, A7.2. .

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Book number: 03723

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: EVANS, Marion Fine Bindings and Sets Nineteenth-Century Literature Women

ELIOT, George

Scenes of Clerical Life

Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1858. Domestic Realism, Pathos, and Humor George Eliot's First Works of Fiction ELIOT, George. Scenes of Clerical Life. In Two Volumes. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1858. First edition in book form of George Eliot's first works of fiction. Two octavo volumes (7 3/8 x 4 5/8 inches; 187 x 117 mm.). [4], 366; [2], 381, [1, blank] pp. Bound without the half-title in Volume I and without the half-title and fly-title in Volume II. Bound ca. 1858 in half dark green hard-grain morocco, ruled in blind, over marbled boards. Spines ruled and lettered in gilt in compartments. Marbled edges and endpapers. Scattered light foxing and soiling. Marginal paper-flaw to leaf H6 (pp. 123/124) of volume 1 (not affecting text). An excellent set of this rather scarce title. Scenes of Clerical Life is the title under which George Eliot's first published fictional work, a collection of three short stories "The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton," "Mr Gilfil's Love-Story," and "Janet's Repentance," was released in book form; it was the first of her works to be released under her famous pseudonym.  The stories were first published in Blackwood's Magazine over the course of the year 1857, initially anonymously, before being released as a two-volume set by Blackwood and Sons in January 1858. The three stories are set during the last twenty years of the eighteenth century and the first half of the nineteenth century over a fifty year period and take place in and around the fictional town of Milby in the English Midlands. Each of the Scenes concerns a different Anglican clergyman, but is not necessarily centered upon him. Eliot examines, among other things, the effects of religious reform and the tension between the Established and the Dissenting Churches on the clergymen and their congregations, and draws attention to various social issues, such as poverty, alcoholism, and domestic violence. "These at once attracted praise for their domestic realism, pathos, and humour, and speculation about the identity of ‘George Eliot', who was widely supposed to be a clergyman or possibly a clergyman's wife" (The Oxford Companion to English Literature). Baker & Ross A3.2. Parrish, p. 7. Sadleir 818. Wolff 2062. .

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Book number: 00003

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: English Literature Nineteenth-Century Literature Women Literature Nineteenth-Century Literature Women Scottish Literature

ELIOT, George

Silas Marner

Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1861. First Edition, In the Original Cloth Binding ELIOT, George. Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe. Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons, 1861. First edition. Octavo (7 3/4 x 4 13/16 inches; 197 x 122 mm.). [6], 364 pp. plus 16 pp. publisher's advertisements, [4,unnumbered ads for the third edition of "Autobiography of Dr Alexander Carlyle"] pp. Original cinnamon diagonal ripple-grain cloth (Carter A, no priority established) with covers decoratively paneled in blind and spine decoratively stamped and lettered in gilt. Top edge rough-trimmed, fore and bottom edges trimmed. Original cream-colored endpapers. Booksellers ticket "Gilbert Brothers, Gracechurch St, London" on front paste-down. Neat ink presentation dated 1861 on front free-endpaper. Minimal rubbing to corners and spine extremities. Rear inner hinge just starting, some light foxing. An excellent copy. Chemised in a quarter red morocco slip-case. The advertisements are in placing "b" (eight plus two leaves, at rear, with the advertisements for the third edition of Autobiography of Dr Alexander Carlyle following the publisher's catalogue), and the "New Works" list is in the earlier form, with pp. [1] and [2] listing three and four titles respectively (p. [1]: John Petherick's Egypt, Soudan, and Central Africa, Sir Archibald Alison's Lives of Lord Castlereagh and Sir Charles Stewart ("In the press"), and the Count de Montalbert's The Monks of the West; p. [2]: George Finlay's History of the Greek Revolution ("In the press"), Rev. J. Cave-Browne's The Punjab and Delhi in 1857, David Page's The Past and Present Life of the Globe ("In the press"), and Henry Stephens' The Book of Farm Buildings ("In the press"). Baker & Ross A6.1.a. Carter, Binding Variants, pp. 111-112. Parrish, p. 15. Sadleir 819. Wolff 2063. Mary Ann Evans (1819-1880), known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist, translator and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era. She is the author of seven novels, including Adam Bede (1859), The Mill on the Floss (1860), Silas Marner (1861), Middlemarch (1871-72), and Daniel Deronda (1876), most of them set in provincial England and known for their realism and psychological insight. She used a male pen name, she said, to ensure her works would be taken seriously. Female authors were published under their own names during Eliot's life, but she wanted to escape the stereotype of women only writing lighthearted romances. She also wished to have her fiction judged separately from her already extensive and widely known work as an editor and critic. An additional factor in her use of a pen name may have been a desire to shield her private life from public scrutiny and to prevent scandals attending her relationship with the married George Henry Lewes, with whom she lived for over 20 years. Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe is the third novel by George Eliot, published in 1861. An outwardly simple tale of a linen weaver, it is notable for its strong realism and its sophisticated treatment of a variety of issues ranging from religion to industrialisation to community. .

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Book number: 03261

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: English Literature Nineteenth-Century Literature Women Literature Nineteenth-Century Literature Scottish Literature

L'ESTRANGE, Roger

Observator, in Dialogue, the

London: Printed by J. Bennet, for WIlliam Abington, 1684. First Collected Edition of The Observator "A Feat of Literary Endurance" Roger L'Estrange's Newspaper, The Observator, Corroded the Foundations of Whiggery.. L'ESTRANGE, Roger. The Observator, in Dialogue. The First Volume..[Nos. 1 (Wednesday April 13, 1681)-470 (Wednesday, January 9, 1683)]. London: Printed by J. Bennet, for William Abington, 1684. Volume I (of 3) of the first collected edition of The Observator, Nos. 1-470. Folio (13 1/8 x 8 1/8 inches; 333 x 207 mm.). [2], [4, "To the Reader"], [8, "The Table"], [3, contents], [1, blank] pp. followed by The Observator Nos. 1-470 (unpaginated). Engraved frontispiece portrait of Roger L'Estrange, dated 1684, by R. White after G. Kneller. Handsomely rebound in 'antique Cambridge-style' paneled calf. Covers decoratively ruled and tooled in blind, spine richly tooled in gilt in compartments with six raised bands and red morocco gilt lettering label, board edges and turn-ins decoratively tooled in blind, marbled endpapers. An excellent copy. "The Reader will find in the First Number of This Collection, the True Intent, and Design of the Undertaking; And he will likewise find, in the very Date of it, (April 13. 1681.) the Absolute Neccessity of some Such Application, to Encounter the Notorious Falsehoods; the Malicious Scandals, and the Poysonous Doctrines of That Season" ("To the Reader"). The Observator was a newspaper written in the form of a dialogue by Roger L'Estrange, and published from April 13, 1681 to March 9, 1687. There were 470 issues in the first volume (as offered here), 215 issues in the second volume and 246 issues in the third and last volume. "Rumbustious and vitriolic, satiric and savage, week after week for six years and through two million words, Roger L'Estrange's newspaper, The Observator, corroded the foundations of Whiggery.. "The Observator was the work of a compulsive writer, a feat of literary endurance..L'Estrange was, said his enemies, the 'scribbler-general of Tory-land'..Its prose hectic, its thoughts haphazard, the Observator lay, its author admitted, somewhere 'betwixt fooling and philosophizing.' It transposed to print the Restoration's fondest verbal facility, raillery, delivering a cascade of libel and abuse, tempered by seriocomic moralizing, and philosophy and political theory reduced to epithets and exclamations.. "Its deliberate coarseness puts it at an arresting remove from the high eloquence of Dryden. Polite it was not. The Observator was Toryism at its most unbuttoned and vulgar. It was routinely scatological, or, more precisely, urological. The Whig newsmonger Langley Curtis is 'the common piss pot [for] the fanatical clubs about town." Henry Care, 'holds up his leg and pisses upon the government.. "The relentless repetitiveness of the Observator is half-redeemed by its inventiveness. The Whigs are not just a faction: they are a 'cabal,' 'consult,' consistory,' 'confederacy,' conspiracy..' This was politics by thesaurus" (Mark Goldie. Roger L'Estrange's Observator and the Exorcism of the Plot. In Roger L'Estrange and the Making of Restoration Culture, edited by Anne Duncan-Page and Beth Lynch, pp. 67-68). Roger L'Estrange (1616-1704) fought on the Royalist side in the English Civil War. In 1644 he led a conspiracy to deliver the town of Lynn to the king and was sentenced to death as a spy. He escaped and took refuge in Holland. In 1653, he returned to England. By 1659, however, he was making his presence as a Royalist known. He printed several pamphlets supporting a return of Charles II. As a reward for his propaganda, L'Estrange was appointed Surveyor of the Imprimery (Printing Press) in 1663. Thereafter, also appointed Licenser of the Press, he retained both positions until the lapse of the Licensing of the Press Act in 1679. As Licenser and Surveyor, L'Estrange was charged with the prevention of the publication of dissenting writings, and authorized to search the premises of printers and booksellers on the merest suspicion of dissension. L'Estrange excelled at this, hunting down hidden presses and enlisting peace officers and soldiers to suppress their activities. He soon came to be known as the "Bloodhound of the Press." He succeeded not only in checking allegedly seditious publications but also in limiting political controversy and reducing debate. Toward the end of 1680, he was forced to flee the country by the political opposition but on his return in 1681 he established The Observator, a single sheet printed in double columns on both sides. It was written in the form of a dialogue between a Whig and a Tory (later Trimmer and Observator), with the bias on the side of the latter. During the six years of its existence, L'Estrange wrote with a consistent fierceness, meeting his enemies with personal attacks characterized by sharp wit. The Glorious Revolution (1688-89), in which King James II lost the throne, cost L'Estrange his official post. Accomplished in languages, he afterward supported his wife and himself chiefly by translations of many standard authors, including the lively Fables of Aesop, and other Eminent Mythologists: with Morals and Reflexions (1692). .

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Book number: 00811

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: Early Books Early Books Literature Seventeenth-Century Literature

FRANKLAND, Sir Robert; COPLOW, Billesdon

Indispensable Accomplishments

London: H. Humphreys, 1811. Six Humorous Hand-Colored Engraved Hunting Scenes FRANKLAND, Sir Robert. COPLOW, Billesdon (pseudonym). Indispensable Accomplishments..London: Published..by H. Humphrey, 1811. First edition. Oblong folio (10 5/8 x 14 5/8 inches; 270 x 370 mm.). Engraved title and six numbered hand-colored engraved plates with interleaves. Seventeen blank leaves at rear. Bound by Morrell (stamp-signed) in later full green crushed morocco with gilt frame and equine-themed gilt corner-pieces. Gilt-ruled raised bands. Gilt ornamented and decorated compartments. Broad gilt dentelles. Top edge gilt. With the leather bookplate of Joseph Widener and armorial bookplate of Clarence S. Bemens. An excellent copy of this rare series of hunting scenes. OCLC locates only one copy (at Harvard). "Ev'ry species of ground ev'ry Horse does not suit;/What's a good Country Hunter may here prove a Brute;/And, unless for all sorts of strange fences prepar'd,/A Man and his Horse are sure to be scar'd" (engraved title). "As every Country Gentleman may not comprehend the force of this expression, he ought to know, that the Meltonians hold every Horse cheap, which cannot Go along a slapping pace, Stay at that pace, Skim ridge & furrow, Catch his Horses, Top a flight of Rails, Come well into the next field, Charge an Ox fence, Go in and out clever, Face a Brook, Swish at a Rasper, and in short, Do all that kind of thing, phrases so plain & intelligible, that it's impossible to mistake their meaning. That Horse is held in the same contempt in Leicestershire, as a Coxcomb holds a Country Bumpkin. In vulgar Countries, (i.e. all others) where these Accomplishments are not Indispensable, he may be a Hunter." Signed: Billesdon Coplow (engraved title). Sir Robert Frankland (1784-1849), Seventh Baron of Thirkelby, was an MP and artist, a talented amateur who later succeeded to the baronetcy as Sir Robert Frankland-Russell. He was the almost exact contemporary of Henry Alken Senior and this set of engravings was the inspiration for Alken's Qualified Horses and Unqualified Riders. In 1815, Henry Alken published a rejoinder to Indispensable Accomplishments: Qualified Horses and Unqualified Riders, or The Reverse of Sporting Phrases Taken from the Work Entitled Indispensable Accomplishments: "In looking over that very amusing work call'd Indispensable Accomplishments sign'd Billesdon Coplow with which I was very much delighted but could not forbear remarking that he consider'd it only necessary that the horse should come well into the next field, charge an ox fence, go in and out clever, face a brook & swish at a rasper he does not mention that to do all that kind of thing it is necessary he should be mounted by a rider of judgment and courage. I have undertaken beging [sic] his pardon to mount well qualified horses with unqualified riders and to shew the figure those horses are likely to cut during the day" (Tooley 44: "The first of Alken's coloured books"). The Plates: 1. Going along a slapping pace. 2. Topping a flight of Rails, and coming well into the next Field. 3. Charging an Ox-fence. 4. Going in and out clever. 5. Facing a Brook 6. Swishing at a Rasper." The London bindery of W. T. Morrell was established c. 1861 as successor to the firm begun by Francis Bedford, who, in turn, had assumed control of the esteemed bindery of Charles Lewis. Sarah T. Prideaux, in "Modern Bookbindings," states that Morrell had a very large business that supplied "all the booksellers with bindings designed by his men," bindings that were "remarkable for their variety and merit." Schwerdt I, pp. 186-187. Silzer, p. 122. Tooley 158 (under Billesdon Coplow). Not in Abbey. .

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Book number: 02598

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: COPLOW, Billesdon Color-Plate Books Fine Bindings Caricatures Nineteenth-Century Literature

GALSWORTHY, John

Swan Song

London: William Heinemann Ltd. [1928]. The Sixth Novel of John Galsworthy's Prize Winning Saga 'The Forsyte Chronicles' GALSWORTHY, John. Swan Song. London: William Heinemann Ltd. [1928]. First edition. Octavo (7 3/16 x 4 3/4 inches; 186 x 121 mm.). [ix], [1, blank], 347, [1, blank] pp. Publisher's dark blue cloth, front cover stamped and lettered in gilt, spine lettered in gilt, rear cover with publisher's blind-stamp, top edge stained blue. A fine crisp copy in the original color pictorial dust jacket, spine minimally darkened, otherwise fine. The sixth of the nine novels which make up The Forsyte Chronicles - one of the most popular and enduring works of twentieth century literature - chronicle the ebbing social power of the commercial upper-middle class Forsyte family between 1886 and 1920. Galsworthy's masterly narrative examines not only their fortunes but also the wider developments within society, particularly the changing position of women. The author has drawn a fascinating and accurately detailed picture of the British propertied class. Often incorrectly called The Forsyte Saga - the nine novel sequence properly known as The Forsyte Chronicles contains three trilogies- of which the first trilogy is The Forsyte Saga (The Man of Property - In Chancery- To Let). The second trilogy- A Modern Comedy (The White Monkey- The Silver Spoon- Swan Song) is followed by the third and concluding trilogy- End of the Chapter (Maid in Waiting- Flowering Wilderness- One More River). "Michael Mont is succeeding in his public life in Parliament, but holds grave doubts about his private life and his wife, Fleur. Fleur's original love, Jon Forsyte, her cousin and the son of her father's ex-wife, returns to England where a meeting is inevitable. Fleur's undying love for Jon is disclosed. Other members of the Forsyte family are included in this imminently readable saga." John Galsworthy (1867-1933) was an English novelist and playwright. Notable works include The Forsyte Saga (1906-1921) and its sequels, A Modern Comedy and End of the Chapter. He won the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1932. .

David Brass Rare Books (ABAA/ILAB)Professional seller

Book number: 04945

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: Modern Firsts

CRUIKSHANK, George and Robert; EGAN, Pierce

Diorama Anglais

Paris: chez Jules Didot [and] Baudouin Frères, 1823. Tom, Jerry, and Bob Logic en Français Twenty-Four Hand-Colored Aquatint Engravings [CRUIKSHANK, George and Robert, illustrators]. EGAN, Pierce. Diorama Anglais, ou Promenades Pittoresques a Londres, Renfermant les Notes les plus Exactes sur les Caracteres, les Moeurs et usages de la Nation Anglaise, Prises dans les Differentes Classes de la Societe. Par M. S... Ouvrage orné de vingt-quatre Planches Gravées et Enluminées, et de Plumieurs Sujets Caracteristiques. Paris: chez Jules Didot [and] Baudouin Frères, 1823. First edition in French of Egan's Life in London. Octavo (8 1/2 x 5 9/16 inches; 217 x 141 mm). [4], 235, [1, blank] pp. Twenty-four hand-colored aquatint engravings, with tissue guards, after George and Robert Cruikshank, unsigned, but similar to those used in the English version of Egan's classic, which contained thirty-six plates. Contemporary quarter red roan over red diaper pattern paper boards. Smooth spine with five decorative gilt rules, lettered in gilt. Engraved bookplate of Sir David Lionel Goldsmit-Stern-Salomons on front paste-down. Old booksellers description pasted onto front flyleaf. Some light foxing to text. An excellent copy with great provenance. "By finding the right men [the Cruikshanks] for his work [Egan] made Life In London one the great successes of the day, comparable to that other triumphant alliance of humour and art in the pages of Dr Syntax" (Prideaux). "A journalist, and a well-known character in his day, [Pierce Egan] wrote nothing so popular as this Life in London. Indeed, the taste for it amounted to a craze. For his illustrations, Egan went to two brothers, Isaac Robert and George Cruikshank..the success of the work was so great that the artists could not colour the engravings fast enough for the demand. It suited the taste of the time, when a ‘fast' life had become a sophisticated and conscious aim. Life in London is a guide to a fast life.. Part of the success enjoyed by [Pierce Egan's Life in London] was due, no doubt, to its readers' belief that they could name the originals of the fictitious characters. Imitations came swift and frequent.." (The Cambridge History of English and American Literature ). Cohn 263. .

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Book number: 04314

Catalogue: English Literature

Keywords: EGAN, Pierce Color-Plate Books Books in French Nineteenth-Century Literature Cruikshankiana