THE MACDERMOTS OF BALLYCLORAN. A Novel.
Philadelphia: T.B. Peterson & Brothers, n.d. [1870]. 22 pp ads paginated [11]-12, 1-16, [1-4] -- undated but referring to the year 1870. Original blind-stamped black cloth with spine decorated and lettered in gilt.
First American Edition of Trollope's first book. This tale was first published in three volumes, in 1847 by Thomas Cautley Newby; in 1951 it was ranked by Sadleir as the very scarcest of Trollope's 53 first editions. Next came THE KELLYS AND THE O'KELLYS in 1848, and then LA VENDÉE in 1850. But Trollope was not really "noticed" in America until after the success of his fourth and fifth novels -- THE WARDEN in 1855 and BARCHESTER TOWERS in 1857. Soon Harper began publishing Trollope's novels, beginning with DOCTOR THORNE in 1858 and THE BERTRAMS in 1859. In 1860 Rudd & Carleton of NY published Trollope's second novel (THE KELLYS AND THE O'KELLYS), but the first and third novels remained unpublished in America. According to Smith, in early 1861 Harper announced the forthcoming publication of THE MACDERMOTS OF BALLYCLORAN, but it never happened. It was another decade before T.B. Peterson published this first American edition of Trollope's first book.
As with all Peterson publications, this book has an undated title page; the only way to discern the date of a Peterson publication is via the ad catalogue, which here properly includes the date 1870. This is a bright, tight, near-fine copy, with scarcely any wear and with the original dark-brown endpapers intact. In our experience this is one of the scarcest Trollope American editions -- probably because Peterson printed few copies of a book that had in fact come out almost a quarter of a century earlier. Smith (US Trollope) 26 -- with the same ads as here, except that the [11]-12 and [1-4] ads precede the 16-page catalogue; see Sadleir (UK Trollope) 1, which for a First American Edition cites "None within any reasonable period of time"; also see Sadleir (XIX) pp 382-383. Item #15349
Price: $875.00