MY LADY LUDLOW, and Other Tales; by Gaskell, Mrs. [Elizabeth] - 1861

1861. included in "Round the Sofa." London: Sampson Low, Son and Co., 1861. 2 pp ads dated July 1861 (last leaf of final gathering). Original blind-stamped green cloth with spine decorated in gilt.

First English Edition, so titled, of this collection of six short stories (the title one, at 164 pages, really being a novella). Most of these stories first appeared in periodicals such as "Household Words" during the late 1850s, and MY LADY LUDLOW was first published as a book in 1858 by Harper of New York. In 1859 Sampson Low collected the stories in an anonymous two-volume work titled ROUND THE SOFA, with interconnecting frames for each story, and in 1861 this title MY LADY LUDLOW was first issued, acknowledging "Mrs. Gaskell" as the author. In My Lady Ludlow, Elizabeth Gaskell depicts the waning of aristocratic power and the waxing of professional hegemony in Regency England. Gaskell's representation of the rising professional society is its openness to participation by women, by members of the working class, and by the illegitimately born. Before any of the feminist movements of the nineteenth century had coalesced, Gaskell's novel pointed to the egalitarian implications of professional ideals [Colon]. This copy does not have an ad catalogue in addition to the final one-page ad leaf (see Smith Note 3). This is a bright copy, just about fine (a little foxing on the first few leaves, but essentially no wear). Smith pp 138-142.