Washington Square. The Pension Beaurepas. A Bundle of Letters

London: Macmillan and Co., 1881. [Literature] FIRST ENGLISH EDITION, Hybrid issue. Two volumes, Octavo (19 x 13cm), pp.265; 271. With a 24-page catalogue at the rear of volume II, dated January 1881. Publisher's blue-green cloth, lettered in gilt to spine, coated brown endpapers. Contents clean. A used set with some shelfwear, egdes of boards rubbed, some wear to joints and corners, inner paper joints parted, 'Mudie' labels to upper covers, neat shelf number '692' to prelims. Remains presentable. A most unusual 'issue', recorded in the bibliography and consisting of the corrected (second) printing of the sheets in the first impression blue-green binding. Only 250 corrected sheets were published and should be bound in brown cloth with yellow endpapers and re-cut brasses to spine; we note two other copies of this 'hybrid', one at University of Texas (recorded by Edel and Laurence), and a copy sold at auction (Swann Galleries, 1989). Rare thus. Henry James classic short novel is a deceptively simple tragicomedy that recounts the conflict between a dull but sweet daughter and her brilliant, domineering father. The book is often compared to Jane Austen's work for the clarity and grace of its prose and its intense focus on family relationships. Edel and Laurence [A15b].