[Rarebooks] fa: FANNY BURNEY - CAMILLA 1796 - 5 vols. Fine First Edition/Zaehnsdorf Bindings

[Ardwight Chamberlain]

Listed now, auction ending Sunday, July 24. More details and images can be found at the URL below or by searching for the seller name arch_in_la. 

http://tinyurl.com/jklssfg

Thanks,
Ardwight Chamberlain
Ann Arbor, MI, USA

[Frances Burney D'Arbley:] Camilla: or, A Picture of Youth. By the Author of Evelina and Cecilia. In Five Volumes. London: Printed for T. Payne; and T. Cadell Jun. and W. Davies (successors to Mr. Cadell), 1796. FIRST EDITION. Five volumes, 12mo (17.5 cm), in 3/4 calf and marbled boards by Zaehnsdorf, spines with gilt-tooled decorations and gilt-lettered morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers; all page edges gilt; xlviii, 390, [2] pp.; [4], 432 pp.; [4], 468 pp.; [4], 432 pp.; [4], 556 pp.; with the list of subscribers and leaf of publisher's adverts at the end of vol. I. ESTC T144705.

Burney's third novel and her greatest commercial success. It had been fourteen years since the appearance of her last novel, Cecilia, and anticipation was keen, as evidenced by the 38-page list of subscribers, a veritable Who's Who of late-Georgian England, containing the names of such notables as Edmund Burke, Sir Joseph Banks, the Duchess of Devonshire, Warren Hastings, Humphrey Repton, Elizabeth Montagu, Hester Thrale, Anne Radcliffe, Hannah More, Maria Edgeworth, and a young devoted fan from Steventon, Hampshire, "Miss J. Austen." This is believed to be the first appearance of Jane Austen's name in print.

The contents Fine in presentable Zaehnsdorf bindings that have had repair and restoration work done to the joints and spines. The leaves show some occasional light spotting and toning, but overall the contents are very clean and fresh and appear never to have been read. Front paste-downs with unusual gilt-tooled leather monogram bookplates bearing the motto, "Otium sine litteris mors est" (Leisure without learning is death). The bindings are uniform with another Fanny Burney set we're offering this week.