Books

8 volumes bound in 7. 8vo. (18.5 x 12 cm). Contemporary half calf over marbled boards by A. Denny, spines with raised bands and gilt-decorated compartments, each with complementary red and blue morocco labels, marbled endpapers and edges. In total 33 illustrations comprising wood-engraved plates, and title vignettes engraved on steel and wood. Some light general wear to bindings, slightly shaved, spotting to endpapers, generally a very good handsomely bound set. A mixed set comprising 4 novels in "stereotyped edition" (Adam Bede, Felix Holt, Silas Marner, Scenes of Clerical Life, The Mill on the Floss) and 3 in "new edition" (Middlemarch, Romola, and Daniel Deronda), all published by William Blackwood and Sons.

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.