[Rarebooks] FS: ZANONI, 1842, Three Volumes, Original boards.

[Michael John Thompson]

OFFERING:

The rare three-decker first edition of one of the 
most important 19th century novels of the occult 
and supernatural, in the primary binding of 
original boards, uncut, complete with half-titles, errata leaf and ads.


BULWER LYTTON, Edward [Sir Edward George Earle Lytton, Bart, 1803-1873].

ZANONI. In Three Volumes.

London: Saunders & Otley, Conduit Street. 1842.

First edition. Octavo, original drab boards with 
green cloth spines, printed paper labels on 
spine. The first binding. 307 pp + 301 pp + 
321pp, 6 page publisher's catalogue of "New 
Works" at rear of Volume Two, inserted eratta 
sheet plus [2] pp publishers ads at rear of 
Volume Three. Half-titles in volumes Two and 
Three only (none in Volume One, as called for). 
Boards rubbed, spine labels chipped and rubbed, 
some inner hinges neatly repaired; a very good 
set. Rare in the original boards. ¶ Occultism & 
the supernatural. The title figure is an immortal 
Rosicrucian from ancient Chaldea, the tale 
revolves around his love for a young and 
beautiful singer. In his Introduction, Lytton 
claims to have received the story as a 
manuscript, entirely in cipher, from a mysterious 
old man he met in an antiquarian bookshop. Long 
considered to be one of the most important 19th 
Century novels of the occult. "In 1835, while 
researching books on astrology and not long 
before his separation from his wif e, 
Bulwer-Lytton had a dream in which the fabric of 
a novel came to him. He produced an incomplete 
version as 'Zicci' (1838 MONTHLY CHRONICLE; in 
CRITICAL AND MISCELLANEOUS WRITINGS 1841) and 
then reworked it substantially as ZANONI (1842). 
Bearing some semblance to Charles Maturin's 
MELMOTH THE WANDERER (1820), this was intended to 
be an allegory on the human condition, but is too 
philosophical to work effectively at that level; 
as a story, however, the tale of an immortal 
adept and his sacrifice for love became one of 
the classic works of Victorian supernaturalism. 
In ZANONI Bulwer-Lytton created the image of the 
'dweller on the threshold,' a phrase beloved by 
writers of weird fiction ever since ... 
Bulwer-Lytton's work was sensational ly popular 
in his day and had a strong influence on other 
writers. His occult works, along with those of J. 
Sheridan Le Fanu, form the basis of modern 
supernatural fiction." - Clute and Grant, The Encyclopedia of Fantasy (1997).

$2500.00

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