Sylvie and Bruno & Sylvie and Bruno Concluded; With Forty-Six Illustrations by Harry Furniss

London: Macmillan and Co, 1889. 1st Edition. Near fine. Harry Furniss. Two 8vo volumes (S&B, 1889; S&BC,1893); 7 x 4 3/4 inches (177 x 120 mm); vol. 1: xxiii, 400, (3); vol. 2: xxxi, advertisement sheet loosely inserted, 423, (6). With 46 illustrations (10 full-page) in each volume by Harry Furniss; frontispiece with original tissue guards. The two volumes are evenly bound in red morocco with 5 raised bands, decoratively paneled and lettered in gilt in compartments; gilt rules and scrolls on boards and board edges, gilt dentelles, patterned floral endpapers; a.e.g. Pages evenly toned and with no defects, front endpaper of vol. 1 is partly torn; spines somewhat sunned, and very lightly rubbed. Original cloth boards and spine bound in, with gold front and back gilt devices, rather worn for vol. 1, in excellent condition for vol. 2.

** Contains a RARE LOOSE SHEET CIRCULAR, printed on wove paper with no border or decorations, 4 3/4 x 3 1/3 (120 x 85 mm) in fine condition, dated Christmas 1893, by the author ASKING FOR THE RETURN OF COPIES OF "THROUGH THE LOOKING-GLASS" .

[Williams 1979, 217 and 250; circular Williams 1979, 249]. An elegant set of Sylvie and Bruno (1889) and Sylvie and Bruno Concluded (1893) which form the last novel by Lewis Carroll published during his lifetime. The novel has two main plots: one set in the real world at the time the book was published (the Victorian era), the other in the fantasy world of Fairyland. While the latter plot is a fairy tale with many nonsense elements and poems, similar to Carroll's Alice books, the story set in Victorian Britain is a social novel, with its characters discussing various concepts and aspects of religion, society, philosophy and morality. Two short pieces, "Fairy Sylvie" and "Bruno's Revenge", originally appeared in Aunt Judy's Magazine in 1867. Carroll initially intended for the novel to be published in one volume. However, due to its length, it was divided into two volumes, published in 1889 and 1893, illustrated by Harry Furniss. The novel is not nearly as well known as the Alice books. The poem The Mad Gardener's Song, widely reprinted elsewhere, is the best-known part of the book. "He thought he saw an Albatross That fluttered round the lamp: He looked again, and found it was A Penny-Postage-Stamp. "You'd best be getting home," he said: "The nights are very damp!