McConnell Fine Books - Antiquarian Books and Fine and Original Leather Bindings

28 vols., small 8vo (7.5" tall). Half tan calf by MUDIE. Twin tan and black labels, gilt raised bands, very pretty gilt tooling to panels. Marbled boards, edges and endpapers. Occasional uneven colouring to tan labels. A superb set.

One of the most popular and prolific female novelists in the nineteenth century, Mrs Wood was pushed into writing professionally by straitened financial circumstances. Her first major work was East Lynne (1861), a sensational tale of female sin and suffering, which catapulted her to minor celebrity and according to the publishers had sold 500,000 copies by the turn of the century. Successfully adapted for the stage, Easy Lynne also became a huge theatrical hit. Other works include the Johnny Ludlow stories, The Channings, Mrs Halliburton's Troubles and The Shadow of Ashlydyat. This set is composed of individual titles published in 1882; although not a completely comprehensive collection, we can find no record of a larger, or finer set in existence.