ORLEY FARM. In Two Volumes by Trollope, Anthony - 1862

1862. With Illustrations by J.E. Millais. London: Chapman and Hall, 1862. Original blind-stamped purple-brown cloth with gilt-decorated spines.

First Edition in book form (the two volumes were issued nine months apart during serialization of the twenty monthly parts). Included are forty full-page plates by the Pre-Raphaelite artist John Everett Millais. "While it is primarily a tragedy of misdirected maternal love, the book contains much of the best Trollopian humor, and includes the portrait of his finest gentleman, Sir Peregrine Orme" [Gerould]. In his autobiography Trollope later noted, The plot... is probably the best I have ever made; but it has the fault of declaring itself, and thus coming to an end too early in the book... I do not know that there is a dull page in the book. As described in detail by Sadleir, there are four issues of the first edition, and since the two volumes were published separately, their issue points are generally independent of each other. The first issue consisted solely of volumes bound up from the serial parts, with stab-holes evident; subsequent issue points are very minor, primarily reflecting the changing printer's imprint on the title verso and the change in several plates' underlines. In this set, Vol I is generally third issue (with the "Clowes H" imprint on the title verso, and the cloth grain running horizontally), while Vol II is a mix between third and fourth issue (with the fourth issue's "Clowes H" (lacking the final period) on the title verso, but with the third issue's vertical cloth grain). Both title versos also have the ink-stamp "Printed in Great Britain," and both front endpapers have the same signature dated 1863. Condition is very good -- both volumes were re-backed at some point, but retaining the original endpapers (and of course the original spines). Sadleir (Trollope) 13.