[Rarebooks] fa: WILLIAM GODWIN - ST. LEON 1799 - First Edition/Gothic Novel/4 vols.

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, June 21. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la.

http://tinyurl.com/pfnb3b6

Thanks again,
Ardwight Chamberlain
L.A.

William Godwin: St. Leon: A Tale of the Sixteenth Century. London: Printed for G. G. and J. Robinson, Paternoster-Row. 1799. FIRST EDITION. Four volumes, 12mo (17.5 cm), in early/period half morocco over olive boards; [2], xii, 331, [1] pp.; [4], 331, [1] pp.; [4], 286  pp.; [4], 336 pp.; with the half-titles in vols. II-IV . Reginald (Science Fiction and Fantasy Literature) 06072; Bleiler (Fantastic Literature) p. 128; Wolff 2589; ESTC T94266.

First edition of this notorious, "blasphemous" novel by William Godwin (1756-1836), one of the great intellectual boogiemen of his age, radical freethinker, atheist, anarchist, free-love enthusiast, philosopher, economist, novelist, essayist, biographer, husband of Mary Wollstonecraft and father of Mary Shelley. A gothic tale concerning the pursuit of immortality through alchemy and the philosopher's stone, St. Leon is considered a foundational work of fantasy literature, Wolff describing it as "a fundamental novel for the occult tradition: elixir of life, wandering Jew, etc." In the character of Marguerite, Godwin sketched a portrait of his dead wife Mary, and, bringing the family connection full circle, the novel is believed to have influenced his daughter Mary's own novel, Frankenstein.

Bumping and chipping to the fore-edges of the boards, spines a bit rubbed and darkened with wear to the spine-ends; vol. I with tissue-repaired tears to the title-page and last leaf, a few leaves of the preface with damp-stain to the top edges and an early owner's faint penciled marginalia (in Italian); generally mild toning to the text blocks, most noticeable on the first and last leaves, occasional scattered spots and stains, a few corners bumped, a few leaves with short edge-tears; otherwise quite clean and sound, firmly bound. Title-pages with early owner's signatures ("S. Maria Franks."); front paste-downs with the engraved armorial bookplates of Crawford of Auchnames and Kerse.