Ivanhoe; A Romance. By "The Author of Waverley," (Sir Walter Scott). In Three Volumes. Edinburgh: Archibald Constable & Co, 1820.
FIRST EDITION OF ONE OF THE MOST POPULAR OF ALL HISTORICAL NOVELS.
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This copy contains many of the various first state identification points as per Worthington's bibliography as follows: volume one pagination ends at pp.298; "Peter" to pp.iv; pp.v line 12 the third word is "which", not the second and fourth (rare); pp.vi line 14 reads "you observed,"; etc. Volume one contains the author's advertisement leaf but not the publisher's advertisements, as typical.
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Size: 125 x 194 mm (approx., each)
Condition:
[half title, t.p., 1ff. (advertisement), i-xxxiii, 298pp.]; [half title, t.p., 327pp.]; [half title, t.p., pp.3-371pp.]
Half navy calf over navy cloth backed boards with gilt titles in compartments to the spines between raised bands, other compartments with decorative gilt. Bindings in very good condition with light rubbing and scuffing in places, primarily the extremities of the spines. All boards attached with rubbing along joints, front hinge of volume one cracked, front joint of volumes two and three starting, and hinges with minor wear. Shelf and edge wear with a small dent to the top of the rear board of volume two. Top page edges gilt with some minor scratches. Page edges lightly toned. Leaves unevenly trimmed. Text blocks fairly clean with edge toning, foxing, and marks. Boards very lightly warped. An advertisement for the play of Ivanhoe in Covent-Garden in 1820 attached to the front pastedown. Two small holes to the front blank in volume one. Small paper remnants attached to the half title in volume one. Advertisement in volume one partially detached. Repair across pp.121/122 in volume one, affecting the text but is mostly legible. Thin loss of paper on pp.123 in volume one, thus, causing some small loss os text. Some occasional edge tears to leaves, primarily to pp.201/202 in volume one, pp.233/234 in volume two, and pp.227/228 in volume three, and to the last few leaves in volume three. Repair to the bottom of pp.235/236 in volume one. Leaf repair to pp.237/238 in volume one, covering some text but is legible through the repair tape. Repair to pp.241/242 in volume one, covering some text, mostly legible. Pencil inscription to head of pp.iii in volume one.
