PAUSANIAS the Spartan. An Unfinished Historical Romance. (Collection of British Authors. Vol. 1558)

Leipzig: Bernhad Tauchnitz, 1880. Copyright edition. Leather. Very Good. Copyright Edition. A Very Good copy. 12mo., [Vol.1] 280 pp. Bound in quarter red leather and marbled paper boards, with title and volume on the five compartment spine in gilt. All edges marbled. Yellow end papers. Moderate shelf wear, mostly at the tips. Spine darkened, with rubbing along the joints. Text pages beginning to age-tone. Hinges very strong.
Bulwer-Lytton's works were well known in his time. He coined famous phrases like "pursuit of the almighty dollar", "the pen is mightier than the sword", "dweller on the threshold", "the great unwashed", and the opening phrase "It was a dark and stormy night." The sardonic Bulwer-Lytton Fiction Contest, held annually since 1982, claims to seek the "opening sentence of the worst of all possible novels" Christian Bernhard Tauchnitz, German publisher, paid the English authors for the works his company published, and agreed to limit their sales of English-language books to the European continent. In 1841, Tauchnitz started his English-language editions, with the series "Collection Of British Authors". Although Tauchnitz's editions were authorized, and listed as the 'Copyright Edition', they were not protected from copyright infringement and he could offer no such protection to the authors he paid.