COLLINS, Wilkie. Basil. London: Sampson Low & Co., 1862.
8vo. Original pink cloth, stamped in blind to covers and gilt to spine; pp. [I, frontis], 344, [XVI, adverts dated January 1862]; a little water damage to frontispiece, spine faded, otherwise an internally clean and sturdy copy with the bookplate of John Martineau to front paste-down endpaper.
Early single-volume edition of one of Collins' first novels. Mrs Oliphant, legendary contemporary critic with the cold solemnity and looming inevitability of a glacier, later called the novel 'a revolting story', something that haunted Collins to his obituary, though this could nowadays be seen as somewhat of a recommendation.
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