Books

First editions, complete as issued. A handsomely bound library set comprising all of Eliot's novels, two short stories, one poetry collection, one volume of her posthumously collected essays, and the three-volume biography by her husband J. W. Cross. One of the major novelists of the 19th century and a leading practitioner of fictional realism, George Eliot (1819-1880) was "the most extensively anthologized novelist among her contemporaries. Her writing evinces a strong belief in progress, which for her meant the gradual improvement of the world through difficult, often imperceptible human effort, sometimes characterized as meliorism." Her biographer Kathryn Hughes calls her the 'last Victorian' because she thought it possible to face the crises of her time without 'shattering in shards' (Orlando). From 1868 through 1879, bookbinder Samuel Tout (1841-1902) operated in Nassau Street in Soho, London. He then worked in a bindery in Whitechapel with William Coward, continuing on his own after 1880. Tout was also a member of the early staff of Karslake's Hampstead Bindery, which opened in Charing Cross in 1898. Baker & Ross A3.2, A4.1; A5.1.a1, A6.1.a, A7.2, A8.1, A10.1.a, A11.1.a, A12.1.a, E1.1.a, E3.1.a, E11.1. Orlando: Women's Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present, Cambridge University Press, online database. Together 12 works in 29 volumes, octavo (192 x 129 mm). Late 19th-century dark brown half morocco by Tout, spines with raised bands, gilt lettering and decoration in compartments, double gilt rules to boards, marbled sides and endpapers, top edges gilt, red silk book markers. Mill on the Floss bound without half-titles, vol. IV of Middlemarch bound without fly-title, vol. III of Daniel Deronda bound without errata and vol. IV without advertisement leaf. Occasional light rubbing to extremities, a few corners gently bumped, a little loss of leather to headcaps of four vols., contents mildly toned, internally clean. A very good set indeed, well-margined and bright.

Scenes of Clerical Life is the title under which George Eliot's first published works of fiction appeared in 1858, consisting of three novellas based on the lives of different clergymen. Originally published anonymously, these stories mark Eliot's debut into the world of literature.