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A New Edition. 4 vols: 410, 377, 384 and 371 pages respectively. Second British Edition in book form, following the first edition and the Berlin published Asher Copyright Edition. Essentially, a straight reprint of the first edition, prior to the revisions and amendments of the 1874 one-volume edition. With exceptional provenance, from the library of celebrated literary socialite, poet and bibliophile, Frederick Locker, a friend of Eliot and her long-time partner, George Henry Lewes. There is a presentation slip "from the author" tipped-on the front endpaper of Vol 2, indicating that Locker received the set directly from Eliot or via the publisher at her request. To the rear endpaper of the same volume there is a handwritten note from mutual friend, fellow author Anthony Trollope, on 39, Montague Square headed notepaper, dated December 3rd 1878, 4 days after the death of Lewes, regarding the latter's funeral at Highgate Cemetery. Locker's bookplate is to the front pastedown of each volume, 3 different versions, all with his "Fear God & Fear Nought" motto, that designed by Henry Stacy Marks R. A. to vols 1 & 3, the Kate Greenaway iteration to Vol 4 and probably the earliest, an uncredited version to vol 2. Locker was Greenaway's mentor and she designed bookplates for his whole family. To the rear pastedown of volume 2, opposite Trollope's note, is Lewes's Times Obituary. The books are bound in the publisher's green cloth, lettered and decorated in gilt and black, all 4 have been neatly re-backed, with the spine strips overlaid onto similarly toned green cloth and repairs to all gutters, the cloth is slightly marked and rubbed, with bumping to the corners. The repairs were commissioned recently, the books previously in their original state having reached an insupportable state of dilapidation. The text blocks are slightly foxed, marked and toned with some dog-eared page corners and minor damage to a few page edges. Locker's library was sold in 1905 to an American book dealer, presumably including this set. Volumes from the library re-emerge on the market not infrequently, and confirm that he was often in the habit of annotating or adding related ephemera to his books. Locker notes in his 1896 volume of memoirs 'My Confidences': "When I attended Mr. Lewes's funeral in Highgate Cemetery, we were a very small party in the mortuary chapel, not more than twelve persons". That the gathering was so select is unsurprising, as due to the unconventional nature of Eliot & Lewes's relationship, they had been largely shunned by polite society until shortly before Lewes's death. Regarding Eliot, he writes: "She had a measured way of conversing, restrained but impressive […] Then though she had a very gentle voice and manner, there was, every now and then, just a suspicion of meek satire in her talk.". A remarkable and poignant association set of Eliot's best-loved work, connecting four notable literary figures of the nineteenth century, and in the Trollope note link them to perhaps the most tragic event of Eliot's later years, the death of the love of her life, Lewes.
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