The Pilgrams of the Rhine

London: Saunders and Otley, 1834 Book. Very Good-Very Good +. Full-Leather. First Edition. 8vo. No Dust Jacket, As Issued. xxxvi, 341 pp, advertisement: autor's preface, list of 27 tissue-protected engravings, argument, Prefatory Poem: To the Ideal; The Pilgrams of the Rhine. First Edition, 1834. "Edward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC (1803-1873), was an English novelist, poet, playwright, and politician. He was immensely popular with the reading public and wrote a stream of bestselling novels which earned him a considerable fortune. He coined the phrases 'the great unwashed', 'pursuit of the almighty dollar', 'the pen is mightier than the sword', as well as the infamous opening line 'It was a dark and stormy night'. Bulwer-Lytton reached the height of his popularity with the publication of Godolphin (1833). This was followed by The Pilgrims of the Rhine (1834), The Last Days of Pompeii (1834), Rienzi, Last of the Roman Tribunes (1835),[5] and Harold, the Last of the Saxons (1848).[5] The Last Days of Pompeii was inspired by Karl Briullov's painting, The Last Day of Pompeii, which Bulwer-Lytton saw in Milan. In the Pilgrams of the Rhine, the author 'lets his novel's characters begin their Rhine journey at Rotterdam where they are somewhat impatient to view the grandeur of the river, for which they must wait till they have passed Cologne. The Grand Tour would traditionally take the British to Italy, so the relatively novel discovery of Germany was not to fall short of established expectations. The Rhine Valley stood for history, but also for classical literature. The River of Time had all this to offer. A Rhine trip has now become a fairly intellectual pursuit. It is thus not surprising that the scenery, quite explicitly, does not count only for itself, but the traveller, through reflection, knows about its history, and stories told by the secular Rhine pilgrims include even the world of legend and folklore. It may thus not surprise the reader too much to find that the River Rhine is in itself not only in many respects allegorical (usually of morality or of history), but that, as the title of chapter 9 tells us, the scenery of the Rhine is even perceived as analogous to the German national, nay literary, genius.'" H.W. Breunig Lightly rubbed top fore-edge corner and bottom edge of rear board with 1/4" separation to bottom edge front joint with slightly foxed margins of some plates, else, Pristine Interior. Clean, tight and strong binding with no underlining, highlighting or marginalia. Full leather with embossed gilt boarders and decorative gilt frame to boards, embossed decorative embossed gilt frame with gilt lettering to spine, and gilt text block edges..