Paula Monti: or, The Hotel Lambert

London: Chapman and Hal, 1845. Hardcover. Fair-/None. Original early publication in English translation. Red cloth boards with ornate gilt decoration and titling on spine, which is cracked and edgeworn. Possibly rebound? Mustard yellow endpapers have pencil writing on front and both hinges repaired with white tape. Corners are bumped. Boards moderately soiled and edgeworn. Interior is otherwise unmarked. The illustrations are lovely. Light dampstaining to the bottom half of pages has affected some of the plates, but not the text pages. Sewn binding is sound. 8vo. BOOK INFO: From the French by the translator of the Mysteries of Paris, and the Wandering Jew. With twenty engravings, under the superintendence of Mr. Charles Heath, from designs by Jules David. See photos for complete table of contents. 2 v. in 1. 14 cm. We found this wonderful review in a period issue of The Literary Annual Register and Catalogue Raisonné of new publications, which doesn't do much to recommend the title, but we couldn't resist including it here with a SPOILER ALERT: 'Another of Eugene Sue's long-winded novels, in which the interest mainly depends upon a complicated plot and what the scribes of the Coburg call 'striking situations.' The sum of it is that Paula Monti is a lady troubled with many loves and many lovers, that she adopts a Bohemian girl, who is so fond of her mistress as to be jealous of all her admirers, and that after some four hundred pages of adventure, marriage included, the said Paula is shot by mistake, and her very affectionate follower commits suicide by water. In mere mercy to the judicious portion of our readers we spare the details.'