Felix Holt.: The Radical.

Edinburgh: William Blackwood and Sons,, 1866. There is no private life which has not been determined by a wider public life First edition, attractively bound. Set in the familiar midland countryside of Eliot's early novels, Felix Holt deals with the upheavals of society at the time of the first Reform Act of 1832, anticipating the election scenes in her next novel, Middlemarch. The work was well-received commercially and "nearly 5,000 copies were sold in the first year" (ODNB). In a contemporary review of the book published in the Times, the literary critic E. S. Dallas proclaimed Eliot superior to her foremost rival, Jane Austen: "Hitherto Miss Austen has had the honour of first place among our lady novelists, but a greater than she has now arisen - a lady who in grasp of thought, in loftiness of feeling, in subtlety of expression, in fineness of humour, in reach of passion, and in all those sympathies which go to form the true artists has never been excelled... Felix Holt is certainly a work of rare genius" (Times, 26 June 1866, p. 6). Three volumes, octavo (191 x 120 mm). Contemporary brown half calf, spines with gilt-dotted raised bands, elaborate gilt decoration in compartments, green and brown morocco labels, marbled sides ruled in blind, greyish green endpapers, top edges gilt, several gatherings uncut. Bound without publisher's advertisements (not present in all copies, see Baker & Ross). Occasional spots of wear to board edges, contents generally bright and clean. A very good copy indeed. Baker & Ross, A8.1.