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175 x 108 mm. (6 7/8 x 4 1/4"). Six volumes. Fine retrospective sprinkled calf by Bernard Middleton, covers framed with blind-tooled vine, flat spines divided into panels with ornate centerpiece by gilt rules and chain rolls, gilt volume number within medallion, black morocco title label, marbled endpapers and edges. Front pastedowns with Munden armorial bookplate of Arthur Holland-Hibbert, later 3rd Viscount Knutsford, engraved by J. F. Badeley, 1922. Cross III, 316-17; Rothschild 850. Spines evenly sunned, leaves lightly pressed, intermittent foxing or small stains and occasional browning, but an excellent copy, the text generally clean and still fresh, the sympathetic binding virtually unworn. This second printing of Fielding's 18th century classic comes bound by a modern British master. First printed just two months before the present issue, "Tom Jones" was a landmark publication in English literature. Cross says that "No one before Fielding had ever written a novel comparable with his in its reliance upon contemporary facts of human nature, and this brilliant and innovative narrative met with such immediate commercial success that the first printing was sold out before its printing could be finished, and at least four more editions were published in the same year as the first." The work is divided into 18 books, each preceded by an introductory essay (wherein can be found some of Fielding's best prose) on some theme more or less connected with the story, in the manner subsequently adopted by Thackeray and George Eliot. The plot begins with the finding and raising of Tom by Squire Allworthy and his sister Bridget and then follows Tom's adventures, many amorous, after his banishment from the Allworthy house as a result of bad behavior. In the comic ending, mysteries are revealed and relationships set aright. Day says this was the first avowed novel in English (Fielding's precursor, Defoe, claimed his stories were true and Richardson said that his were akin to sermons), and a work that some still call the greatest novel in English because of its attention to characters set against the backdrop of society. Bernard Middleton (1924-2019) was arguably for many years the finest book restorer in the English-speaking world. But in addition to his restoration work (and in addition to his substantial output of publications on binding), he also, in his words, "produced in the region of 100 modern designed bindings." He was a founding member of the Guild of Contemporary Bookbinders as well as president of the Designer Bookbinders. He was made a Member of the Order of the British Empire in 1986. With typical modesty, Middleton said of his work: "As a book restorer, I am primarily a craftsman who incidentally produces simple designs for the embellishment of occasional fine bindings, rather than a trained designer who binds books for the purpose of giving expression and permanent form to . . . creative ideas. . . . My designs are intended to please the eye, not engage the intellect, principally by the employment of textures, strongly defined shapes and contrasts, and by the play of light on gold, preferably in combination and in a manner which complements the book." And so it is with the present very pleasing set. Second Edition, without the leaf of errata.
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