First edition, first issue of this literary classic describing everyday life in English society, an "incalculable influence" (Yardley) on the developing novel in English.
Very good plus.
Price: $8,500.00
"No one hath seen Beauty in its highest Lustre, who hath never seen it in Distress."
TOM JONES has been an "incalculable influence" on the literature of "England, the United States and wherever English is written" (Yardley). An oft-humorous Bildungsroman set against the backdrop of the Jacobite Rising, the work was met with "shock and delight" by contemporary readers — sometimes with more "shock" than "delight" (Yardley). Henry Fielding's frank descriptions of the hypocrisy of the upper classes and his characters' sexual encounters caused some blustering; as Samuel Johnson lectured Hannah More: "I am shocked to hear you quote from so vicious a book. I am sorry to find you have read it: a confession which no modest lady should ever make. I scarcely know a more corrupt work" (quoted in Roberts 168-9). This set, in its attractive speckled calf bindings, is a beautiful example reflecting the English novel in its cheeky youth.
Read more: Jonathan Yardley, "'Tom Jones,' Fresh as Ever," Washington Post; Robert Etheridge Moore, "Dr. Johnson on Fielding and Richardson," PMLA; English Short Title Catalogue T1974; Baron Nathaniel Mayer Victor Rothschild, item 850; Roberts, Memoirs of the Life and Correspondence of Hannah More.
London: A. Millar, 1749. Six duodecimo volumes, 6.5'' x 3.75''. 19th-century speckled calf bindings by W. Pratt with red and black spine labels, five raised bands; volume 1 skillfully rebacked with original spine laid down. All edges gilt, with gilt dentelles. Marbled endpapers. lxii, [1], 214; 324; 370; 312; 294; 304 pages, collated complete. Errata leaf in vol. 1, with all cancels and final blanks as noted in Rothschild 850. Armorial bookplate of J. G. F. Lund to front pastedowns. Bindings with a bit of edgewear and rubbing, some barely visible repairs to joints. Light offsetting to bookplates, scattered foxing to leaves. A sharp set.
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