Books

Eliot, George. Adam Bede. London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1859. First Edition, first printing. 1032 pages total, 325 in vol. I and 374 in vol. II, and 333 in vol. III. 7.5" x 5". The earliest published novel by English writer Mary Ann Evans, under her pen name George Eliot. Adam Bede tells the story of Adam, a carpenter, Hetty, the woman he loves who gets caught up in a terrible crime, and Dinah, a Methodist minister. The novel was quickly recognized for Eliot's masterful characterization and depiction of rural life, which would be a recurring theme in her writing. Eliot wrote seven full length novels in addition to her short stories and scholarly works, among them Middlemarch, now considered one of the greatest 19th century English works of fiction. Uniformly bound in deep turquoise leather by the famous binder Bayntun. Title, author, and date stamped in gilt on spines. Douglas Clan book plate with family crest “Jamais Arriere” (“Never Behind”) to the inside of each…

Published in 1859, 'Adam Bede' is the first novel by George Eliot. It was an immediate success and praised for its realistic and rustic depiction of 19th-century rural life.