Octavo. Original brown ripple-grain cloth (Carter’s binding B), spine lettered in gilt, light yellow endpapers. With 16 pp. publisher’s advertisements at rear. Bookseller’s ticket to front pastedown. Minor peripheral wear, inner hinges split but holding, slight paperclip mark to first few leaves. A very good copy. ¶ Carter, Binding Variants , pp. 110–112; Parrish, pp. 15–16; Sadleir 819; Wolff 2063. Joanne Shattock, “Publishing and Publication”, George Eliot in Context , ed. Margaret Harris, 2013. £1,250 [151579] 64 ELIOT, George. Felix Holt. The Radical. Edinburgh & London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1866 First edition, an exceptionally fresh set in the original cloth, in Carter’s “A” binding. Set in the familiar midland countryside of Eliot’s early novels, Felix Holt deals with the upheavals of society at the time of the first Reform Act of 1832, anticipating the election scenes in her next novel, Middlemarch . The work was well-received commercially and “nearly 5,000 copies were sold in the first year” ( ODNB ). 3 volumes, octavo. Original brown cloth by Edmonds & Remnants, gilt lettering to spines, decorative frame blocked in blind to covers, yellow endpapers. With 4 pp. of publisher’s adverts at end of vol. III. An excellent set, fresh in the original cloth, gilt titles very bright to spines, and only light rubbing to ends and corners, hinges entirely sound. ¶ Parrish, pp. 20–1, Sadleir, XIX Century Fiction , 814. £2,250 [152182]
62
if they do represent different issues, Carter theorizes the “A” binding preceded. An additional two pages of advertisements for Alexander Carlyle are sometimes also present, without known priority.
× 40 cm. Framed size: 38.8 × 44.2 cm. Excellent condition. Float-mounted in a white wooden box frame as issued. £1,250 [151230] 63 ELIOT, George. Silas Marner. The Weaver of Raveloe. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1861 First edition of Eliot’s third novel. Published on 2 April 1861, Silas Marner proved a success, resulting in 8,000 copies in five separate printings in 1861. “Its popular success was a pleasant surprise for Blackwood, who was initially worried about publishing another short fiction that might not be taken by libraries. The single volume was deliberately made ‘thicker and handsomer’ than a volume of an ordinary three-volume novel, and he calculated that the price of twelve shillings would attract individual buyers . . . The response from both libraries and the public exceeded expectations” (Shattock, pp. 27–8). This copy is in Carter’s “B” binding, with the less elaborate gilt-work on the spine than the “A” variant – the two may have been issued concurrently, although
63, 64
All items are fully described and photographed at peterharrington.co.uk
33
Made with FlippingBook Online newsletter maker