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J. B. Lippincott, Philadelphia / J.M. Dent, London. 1900. Part of Dent’s Illustrated Romances series, with an Introduction by Joseph Shaylor and twelve colored Illustrations by W. Cubitt Cooke, L. M. Fisher & F. C. Tilney., each protected with tissue paper still intact and four black and white etchings. Also includes a black and white reproduction of the medalion portrait of Mrs. Clark in Tewkesbury Abbey.
In good condition. Green cloth covered boards with gilt designs on front, back and spine. Covers have a few nicks to the cloth that covers the corner tips and spine and light overall scuffing. Gilt top-edge is a little faded and fore edge and bottom edges are untrimmed. Spine is cracked along front and rear hinges and in a few other places throughout but binding is still intact. Small black ink spot on front free end paper which is mirrored on front paste-down. Red bookmark ribbon is faded and fraying but still attached. Pages are lightly aged but otherwise unmarked. NOT Ex-Library. Overall a charming copy with lovely illustrations and a beautifully decorated binding. In this classic of early Victorian fiction, Dinah Maria Craik (1826 - 1887) presents the archetypal story of a poor boy who makes good through honesty, initiative and hard work. It was one of the first novels to have a tradesman as hero and confirmed the Protestant ethic by showing that the virtues that lead to heaven also bring success on earth. The book begins in 1794, when English aristocrats watched their counterparts across the Channel vanish amid the Reign of Terror and ends in 1834, two years after the Reform Bill gave the vote to most middle-class men. The achievements and experiences of John Halifax correspond allegorically to the events that transferred power from the aristocracy to the middle class.