Books

London: Macmillan, 1881. First English edition of Henry James’s moving New York story about a downcast heiress and an upstart suitor, successfully serialized on both sides of the Atlantic, and published in the United States in 1880: “Love demands certain things as a right; but Catherine had no sense of her rights; she had only a consciousness of immense and unexpected favors.” Washington Square appears here with two 1879 stories by James: “The Pension Beaurepas,” which first appeared in the Atlantic Monthly, and “A Bundle of Letters,” which appeared in The Parisian. An early newspaper photograph of what appears to be the James family home on Washington Place has been pasted into Volume I; the residential block where James was born was demolished in 1900 to make way for a ten-story commercial building, the site of the Triangle Shirtwaist factory fire. This is the second impression of the first English edition of Washington Square, issued two months after the first…

This volume features some of Henry James' best-known works, showcasing his literary artistry and insightful social commentary.