Orley Farm . . . With illustrations by J. E. Millais

London: Chapman & Hall, 1862. First Edition. Half-Calf. Near Fine+. Complete in two octavo volume: viii,320; viii,320pp, with 40 full-page wood-engraved plates that Trollope considered the "best he had seen 'in any novel in any language.'" (Ray) Contemporary green polished half-calf spines in six compartments divided by double gilt rules, marble paper-covered boards, red morocco lettering pieces gilt, edges speckled red. Short tear (repaired) to plate opposite p. 49, vol. I. Ink manuscript name and date (1863) to fly-leaf of voI II, with same inscription upside down to back fly-leaf of vol. I, as well as a further ink name and date (1890) inscribed to front blank. A truly excellent set, bindings square, tight, and barely worn; pages clean, fresh and mostly free of foxing; plates in deep, rich impressions. Sadleir 13. NCBEL III, 882. Ray (England) 168. Muir (Victorian Illustrated Books), p. 135. Trollope considered this lengthy book, a version of the crime, or "sensation," novel in vogue during the 1860s, one of his most ambitious undertakings and possibly his finest work. It is also among the most bibliographically complex. Unusually, the two volumes were not published simultaneously but nearly ten months apart, and subsequent reissues of each volume did not proceed in step. In consequence, Sadleir proposes that the "numerous combinations of varying volumes which exist are due, not always to careless mixing of sets between 1862 and the present day, but often to circumstances of publication." Orley farm originally appeared in twenty shilling parts, published monthly from March 1861 to October 1862. Our set is the second issue of four, identified by the two illustrations originally bound in tandem between pp. 86-87 (first issue) in vol. I, one of which (that captioned "And then they all marched . . .") has been moved to face p. 73 (though the List of Illustrations was not altered to correspond). But the printer's imprint on verso of title page, vol. I, has not yet changed to Clowes H and the imprint on p. 320 (Clowes B) is not worn and broken, both third issue points. Correspondingly, in vol. II, the printer's imprint on verso of title page does not lack the colon after "London" and the last item of the List of Illustrations has not been altered to read "Sir Peregrine Orme's Great Love—p. 311" (both third issue points). "Millais's main effort is to do justice to the characters of Trollope's wonderfully rich and varied novel and to the situations in which they find themselves, yet the comfort, even elegance, of Victorian existence on the right side of the social line is nowhere more attractively presented than in his forty drawing for this novel." (Ray) N. B. With few exceptions (always identified), we only stock books in exceptional condition. All orders are packaged with care and posted promptly. Satisfaction guaranteed. (Fine Editions Ltd is a member of the Independent Online Booksellers Association, and we subscribe to its codes of ethics.).