Arundel Author Observer (5 results)

Gebunden. Condition: New. KlappentextThis work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original w.

Buch. Condition: Neu. Neuware - This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.

296pp; [2], 300pp. 12mo. Contemporary tree calf, gilt banded spines, red & black morocco labels; upper joint vol. I worn & cracked, old water-staining to upper board intruding inoffensively through the first 30 leaves, sl. crack to rear joint vol. II, a good-plus copy. ESTC T162113, BL, Cambridge, Nat Lib Ireland; New York Society Library, Rice Univ, Alberta, Toronto. The first Dublin edition, published the same year as the London edition. During a summer at Brighthelmstone in 1788 Cumberland hastily threw together the novel of Arundel; his first experiment in novel writing. The work was quickly cast aside, and made no impression on a world cluttered with moral imitations of Richardson and Fielding. Walter Scott's words are the most charitable: 'The style was easy and clear, and the characters boldly and firmly sketched'. The novel has one other Virtue: ' It shews', says Scott, 'at the first glance what is seldom to be found in novels, the certainty that the author had been well acquainted with our sole preservation against violence; strange paradox this'. see: Williams, S.T. Richard Cumberland, his Life and Works. 1917.

First Edition. Two vols, 12mo, pp.[2], 296; [2], 300; a nice copy in contemporary full calf, spines gilt with black morocco labels and dark green numbering pieces (one missing); marbled endpapers; binding a little rubbed; Downshire monogram to spine; ownership inscription of Mary Hill as 'L[ad]y Fairford' at head of each title page (see below).First edition. Richard Cumberland (17321811) was the grandson of the great scholar Richard Bentley, and great-grandson of the Bishop of Peterborough; he had already made his name as a playwright in London, and was also the author of a periodical paper the Observer when he published this, his first novel. For his biographer in Oxford DNB it 'begs comparison' with Grandison (not necessarily a recommendation, even for admirers of Richardson): the format is epistolary and the fiction of the author being the 'editor' is kept up throughout. Richardson's influence may be seen in the form and subject, but the pace of the work, and its lively dialogue, derive from Cumberland's experience in writing for the stage, where he also favoured 'sentimental' themes of virtue in distress. Contemporary reviewers, however, were not kind: the Critical Review expressed its disappointment, and Andrew Becket in the Monthly Review found it unoriginal and the characters 'faint and imperfect sketches'. On the other hand, the work was clearly successful with readers because there were two more London editions and a Dublin reprint, as well as French and German translations within two years of its first appearance. Provenance: from the library of Mary Hill (néeSandys, 17641836), Marchioness of Downshire and later Baroness Sandys. Lady Downshire was a wealthy heiress, society hostess and literary patron who married the young but ill-fortuned politician Arthur Hill in 1786. Raised by her uncle, one of Samuel Johnson's 'Streatham worthies', she became a friend of both the Prince of Wales and Mrs Fitzherbert, and once entertained the Prince for four days at the family seat of Ombersley. She built up a fine collection of contemporary fiction, mostly by women, to add to the family library. The present work must have been bought by Lady Downshire at the time of publication: the inscriptions 'Ly Fairford' would have to date from before August 1789, when her father-in-law became Marquess of Downshire and her husband thus promoted to the subsidiary title of Earl of Hillsborough. It was bound (or the spine stamped) after her husband succeeded as Marquess in 1793. Garside 1789:37; Tomkins pp.348 and 352n. Language: English.

Two volumes bound in one, 12mo, pp. [ii], 296; [ii], 300; some slight worming at the foot the first title, continuing for a few leaves, but well away from the text; else a remarkably attractive copy, in a French plain calf binding, spine with red morocco label; marbled endpapers, edges sprinkled red. First edition: there was a second edition in 1791, which is a close reprint with some very minor changes to the text, and a third in 1795, a reissue of the second. Cumberland was quite successful as a playwright, but even Arthur Sherbo, his biographer in ODNB, finds it difficult to praise either this novel ('begs comparison with. Sir Charles Grandison') or Henry (1795), and says of John of Lancaster (1809) that it is 'best left undescribed'. However, this is a lovely copy, in what is clearly a French binding. Garside, Raven and Schöwerling 1789: 37.