PASSAGES FROM THE FRENCH AND ITALIAN NOTE-BOOKS by Hawthorne, Nathaniel - 1871

1871. [the leaves still unopened] [In Two Volumes.] London: Strahan & Co., 1871. 4 pp undated Vol I terminal ads; ad slip tipped onto Vol I and Vol II front free endpapers, advertising works by George MacDonald and Robert Buchanan respectively. Original royal blue cloth decorated in black and gilt. First Edition (English), published about four months before the American edition (which is dated 1872). After Nathaniel Hawthorne's death, his widow Sophia had passages from his notebooks published -- first from THE AMERICAN NOTE-BOOKS in 1868, then from THE ENGLISH NOTE-BOOKS in 1870, and finally this title. This set is in the primary binding (Clark's "A"), with bands of gilt and black on the front cover and spine, and with the publisher's anchor device on the spine. Both volumes are unusually bright and near-fine (trifling wear at the top of one joint, original chocolate brown endpapers archivally mended at the gutters); almost 150 years after publication the leaves remain unopened. Clark A28.1. Housed in a morocco-backed slipcase with inner chemise (which today would cost about as much as these volumes' price to create!).