The Golden Lion of Granpere

New York: Harper and Brothers, 1872. First Edition. Decorative Cloth. Near Fine+. Scarce First American (and first illustrated) Edition of Trollope's "very best shorter book." (Walpole) Royal 8vo (231 x 142mm): 124,[4]pp, with tissue-guarded frontispiece and twenty-three further wood-engraved illustrations by Dalziel after Francis Authur Fraser (eight full-page, eight half-page, and eight vignettes). Publisher's moderate reddish-brown diagonal dot-and-line grain cloth (Smith's variant binding A; also offered in pictorial wrappers), front cover paneled in blind and stamped in gilt, spine lettered and decorated with floral serifs in gilt, coated reddish-brown end papers. Book plate of Masonic Library, Frederick, Maryland, to front paste-down. Slight fraying to foot of spine, minor soiling to boards, else a collectible example, tightly bound and clean throughout. Gerould, p. 96-97. Sadleir (Trollope) 38. Smith 31. First published serially, in Good Words and in Harper's New Monthly Magazine, in 1872, both with Fraser's illustrations (Blackwood's declined to publish the book, in 1867). The London edition was brought out by Tinsley Brothers, in May, 1872. According to Walpole, "not only Trollope's very best shorter book, but one of the most charming idylls in English literature." (quoted in Gerould) Sadleir says the book did not sell well, although some critics considered it one of Trollope's better shorter novels. N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition, carefully preserved in archival, removable mylar sleeves. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).