EVE'S RANSOM.
London: Lawrence & Bullen, 1895. Original maroon cloth.
First (English) Edition, which consisted of only 1,000 copies. This was the first of Gissing's novels to be published after the 1894 demise of the three-decker format (though one of his earlier works, DENZIL QUARRIER of 1892, had also come out in only one volume). This English edition was "printed [in the UK] from American plates": both appeared virtually simultaneously, in view of the recently-enacted (1891) American copyright laws. (The Amercan edition is considerably more common.) The 1,000 copies of the UK first printing sold rapidly, and an additional 1,000 copies (with "Second Edition" on the 1895 title page) were quickly printed.
This copy is in the first binding state (with "Lawrence & Bullen" rather than the post-1901 "A.H. Bullen" at the foot of the spine). Most "L&B" copies have an ad catalogue dated "Autumn Season 1894"; this copy does not. About such copies Coustillas writes:
Much scarcer copies have been found with no publishers' catalogue bound in. Their existence is difficult to account for except as a binders' oversight, since some copies of the second edition also have the Autumn 1894 catalogue bound in. Or perhaps the catalogue was for a very short time out of print.
This is a very good copy, with minor shelf-wear and with a rub partway down the spine; atypically, the maroon spine is not particularly faded. Coustillas A14.1b; Collie A14d; Spiers & Coustillas R3. Item #14887
Price: $250.00