Portrait of a Lady (Wordsworth Classics) (Wordsworth Classics) Paperback - 1997

About this book

From the rear cover

When Isabel Archer, a young American woman with looks, wit, and imagination, arrives in Europe, she sees the world as 'a place of brightness, of free expression, of irresistible action'. She turns aside from suitors who offer her their wealth and devotion to follow her own path. But that way leads to disillusionment and a future as constricted as 'a dark narrow alley with a dead wall at the end'. In a conclusion that is one of the most moving in modern fiction, Isabel makes her final choice.

First Edition Identification

Though most generally considered The Portrait of a Lady to have been published simultaneously in the United Kingdom and the United States, controversy surrounds the true publication history. Macmillan (London) published the first UK edition of the book in three volumes in November 1881, just as the story was concluding its run in the eponymous house monthly magazine. However, Macmillan’s second edition — its first single-volume edition — was not published until June 1882. In the mean time, Houghton, Mifflin, and Company (Boston) published the first US and first single-volume edition, which became available on November 16, 1881, though the date on the title page states 1882.