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Hard cover, 12 vo., (measuring 4 3/4 x 7 3/8 inches) in brown "T" publisher's cloth with several blindstamped banded borders, corner fleurons and a large central filigree design. Title in gilt to spine. 288 pp and 312 pp. Per Blanck: <ii> has Currents "Nearly Ready," suggesting first or second state. However, p. 13 "richer" and p. 23 "all" and "it's" suggest fourth state. So, likely an amalgamation of the two. This was Oliver Wendell Holmes Sr.'s first novel, republished from earlier serialization in The Atlantic Monthly. This was one of Holme's "medicated" novels, wherein the Harvard-trained medical doctor and author diagnosed a "medical aberration" in his main character. In this case, a snakebite to the mother whilst pregnant, causing the onset of weird, snake-like tendencies in a young woman. An interesting moral tale, involving marriage, inheritance and the concept of original sin. The origin of the phrase "Boston Brahmin" stems from the first chapter of this work. Condition: Good Plus. Stain to front board of Vol. 1. Some water staining affects preliminaries (not Title page) and other external edges of some text and endpapers in Vol. 1 only. Shelf wear to head and tail of both spines, with small losses. Owner's signature in old hand (pencil) dated May 1861 in both volumes. Lacking Publisher's catalogue. BAL 8801, p. 252. Bleilor p. 102.
Ref: FICT19 8375
$80.00