Headlong Hall and Nightmare Abbey (First American Edition)
NY: Wiley and Putnam, 1845. First. Three-Quarter Leather. Tan three-quarter leather with raised hubs over marbled paper-covered boards, black leather spine label lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers. Small 8vo. Somewhat unusually, the title page states "First American Edition" under the main titles; the author's name, however, does not appear. 172 pps. A tight copy, rubbed about the edges and gutters and somewhat scuffed along the spine strip. Foxing to the blanks and very occasionally in the text. Still a perfectly acceptable copy. "Headlong Hall" was Peacock's first novel, originally published in England in 1815. Set at a Welsh country manor, it is peopled by a set of characters, each embodying a particular intellectual obsession and is replete with comic and satirical elements. "Nightmare Abbey" (originally published in England in 1818), was Peacock's most famous and enduring work, filled with gothic motifs like shadowy manor houses with secret rooms and sliding panels. In point of fact, the book is a series of satirical romances poking fun at some the major figures of the Romantic Movement; Byron appears as Mr. Cypress, Coleridge (Mr. Floskey) and Shelley (Scythrop Glowry). Item #E1910
Price: $650.00