The Vicar of Bullhampton

London: Bradbury, Evans, and Co, 1870 . First edition. Leather. Fine. 9" by 6". H. Woods. A beautifully bound first edition of this novel from Anthony Trollope, illustrated throughout by Henry Woods. The first edition in book form of this 1870 novel by Anthony Trollope, initially issued in monthly parts between 1869 and 1870. In a lovely half crushed morocco signed binding from Riviere, and with the publisher's original cloth bound in to the rear.Illustrated by British painter and illustrator Henry Woods, a leading figure in the Neo-Venetian artistic movement. Illustrated with a frontispiece and twenty-two further plates, and with twelve vignette illustrations. Collated, complete.With thirty five illustrations in total, rather than the thirty referred to by the title page, as noted by Sadleir. Bound without the original half title or publisher's advertisements.With the armorial bookplate of antiquarian Harry Lawrence Bradfer-Lawrence to the front pastedown. A member of the exclusive Roxburghe Club, Bradfer-Lawrence built a remarkable collection of charters, seals, manuscripts and books, and held a particular interest in Norfolk and Yorkshire.Composed of three intertwining subplots - the courtship of a young woman, a feuding vicar and nobleman, and a vicar's attempt to rehabilitate a fallen woman - the work was received negatively by admirer's of Trollope's Barchester Chronicles due to its darker tone.Described by Henry James as a 'slow but excellent story, which is a capital example of interest produced by the quietest conceivable means', this is a lovely first edition from one of the most prominent novelists of the Victorian era. In a half crushed morocco signed binding, with gilt detailing to back strip, and cloth covered boards. A touch of fading to back strip, and light rubbing to head of front board. Light spotting to fore edge of text block. Otherwise, externally lovely. Armorial bookplate to front pastedown, binder's stamp to verso of front free endpaper. Publisher's original cloth front board and back strip bound in to rear. Internally, firmly bound. Pages clean and bright. Fine