Books

8vo. 1860. 1st ed. 3 vols. 1. viii(1)-361(1) plus z6 blank. 2. viii(1)-319(1). 3. viii(1)-313(1) plus 16 pp publishers' ads. Uncut in original cinnamon ripple-grain decorative cloth. Gilt spines. Edmonds and Remnants ticket in vol 1. Gilt lettering on spines unevenly dulled and corners bumped. Spines relaid with matching reinforcement paper strip on inner hinges. Text age-toned, some edges a little friable. CARTER first state text, without ad lf in vol 1, 'B' binding (no priority assigned). INSCRIBED 'FROM THE AUTHOR' on the half title of vol 1 in her hand. Of all the Victorian giants.she probably presented the fewest books. With 'Scenes of Clerical Life', George Eliot had requested that the 8 presentation copies be sent with the inscription 'from the author'.'I don't mean to send the Mill on the Floss to anyone, except to Dickens.if YOU present any, I would be glad if you would particularly enjoin 'from the publisher', to be written in them that they may not be imagined to have come from me'. (George Eliot to John Blackwood 22/3/1860.) BAKER and ROSS (A.5.1.a) locate 4 inscribed copies. 1. to Dickens 'from the author'. 2. to Dr. Deakin 'from the author'. 3. Wolff (2060) copy with named presentation inscription, presentation page reinserted and recased with new endpapers without z6. 4. 'from the author' sold Sothebys 27/6/1925 'recased and foxed' - the last inscribed Mill on the Floss to appear in auction. The 4 libraries with major holdings of George Eliot (Beinecke/Yale, Pierpont Morgan, British Library and National Library of Scotland) do not have inscribed copies of Mill on the Floss. As such, a VERY SCARCE manifestation of this title. 'A reimagining of Eliot's strained relationship with her much-loved brother, the Mill on the Floss represents Eliot's most autobiographical work'. Images available on request.

Published in 1860, 'The Mill on the Floss' is a realist novel by George Eliot, which features the complex and deep relationship of sister and brother Maggie and Tom Tulliver.