LOTHAW

1871. Or, The Adventures of a Young Gentleman in Search of a Religion. By Mr. Benjamins (Bret Harte...). London: John Camden Hotten, n.d. [1871]. 2 pp preliminary ads plus 8 pp terminal ads dated "for 1872." Original glazed printed wrappers.

First Separate Edition of this parody of Benjamin Disraeli's 1870 novel LOTHAIR. It was in 1871 that the new edition of Harte's CONDENSED NOVELS came out in the U.S., which added two new parodies (including this one) to the fifteen that had appeared in the original 1867 edition. Blanck (citing Kozlay) notes three states of this book, and this copy does not quite equate with any of the three: the inside front wrapper lists "The New Books of Humour" (not cited at all by Blanck, though it could be his State 2); the outside rear wrapper promotes Bryant & May's Patent Safety Matches (as in Blanck's State 3). This copy is in good-to-very good condition, which is not bad for such a fragile, ephemeral piece: the spine wrapper is mostly perished, and there is other edge-wear. Blanck 7430. Housed in a cloth slipcase with a wraparound chemise that bears the small leather "Blairhame" bookplate of the noted collector Mrs. J. Insley Blair.