WESTWARD HO! OR, THE VOYAGES AND ADVENTURES OF SIR AMYAS LEIGH, KNIGHT ...

Cambridge : Macmillan & Co., 1855. First edition. Kingsley's ever-popular saga of the days of Drake, the Armada, etc. - "the most perfect romance that we have yet had from Mr. Kingsley's pen ... he is in love with the manliness, hardihood, and imagination of our forefathers" (Daily News, 4th April 1855). The first novel ever published by Macmillan and probably unique in Victorian fiction in having a holiday resort named after it (much to Kingsley's annoyance). Three volumes. Crown 8vo (185 x 120mm). [2],viii,(304); vi,356; vi,(374)pp. Bound, with half-titles and preliminary advertisement, but without the inserted catalogue sometimes found, in a near contemporary quarter roan, ruled and lettered in gilt; marbled sides; sprinkled edges; some light wear; faint cracking to vol. iii; internally, some soiling, marking and fraying - especially to vol. i; one leaf with a more extensive repaired tear; occasional pencil marks; a reasonable and modestly priced set of a difficult Victorian classic. Small library stamps of Newtyle Public Library on p.41 of each volume - a Scottish provenance reinforced by some resonant pencil annotation to p.217 in vol iii - the passage relating to the execution of Mary Queen of Scots - "A confounded tissue of lies. Whether true or not - uncharitable".