The Dead Secret. or, The Fall of Rome. A romance of the fifth century. 2 vols in one, Copyright edition.

COLLINS, William Wilkie.

Published by Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz. (Collection of British Authors, vols. CCCLXXXVI & CCCCIX.) 1857, 1857

About this Item

2 vols bound in one: the first is vol. IV of 'Novels and Tales', pp. 1-354 ; the second is vol. V, pp. 1-160, bound without titlepage. Ownership signature of Mary Cholmondeley, Samaden, Augt. 1880. Todd 386a & 409a. Collins's first novel written for serialisation in Household Words, January-June 1857, followed by book publication in 3 vols, Bradbury & Evans, 1857. The first British one-volume edition was 1861, Sampson Low. This Tauchnitz edition does not contain Collins's original introduction. The 'Dead Scret' itself is a death-bed confession, hidden in Porthgenna Tower, Cornwall - and an inheritance. This copy was owned by Mary Cholmondeley, 1859-1925, novelist, while she was on holiday in Switzerland. She was author of a number of successful novels, most notably the feminist Red Pottage, 1899.

Seller Inventory # 100540

Bibliographic Details

• Title: The Dead Secret. or, The Fall of Rome. A romance of the fifth century. 2 vols in one, Copyright edition.
• Publisher: Leipzig: Bernhard Tauchnitz. (Collection of British Authors, vols. CCCLXXXVI & CCCCIX.) 1857
• Publication Date: 1857