Landmark Books in All Fields
ItemID: #109278
Cost: $1,200.00

Dead Secret

Wilkie Collins

"O, NO! NO! FOR GOD'S SAKE, DON'T WRITE IT!"

COLLINS, Wilkie. The Dead Secret. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1857. Two volumes. Octavo, late 19th century full tan calf, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, red and blue morocco spine labels, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt. $1200.

First edition of this mystery of illegitimacy and inheritance, handsomely bound by Riviere and Son.

Collins had "one of the longest and most distinctive literary careers of the nineteenth century… In the course of nearly half a century's writing [he] tried many new ways of reaching and expanding his audience. Dickensian Christmas books, short stories, three-decker novels, magazine and newspaper serializations flowed from his pen with a productivity unchecked" (Bowen 4-5). Collins' well-known interest in disabilities is displayed here in Rosamund Treverton's blind husband Leonard. Bookplate.

Scattered foxing to text, binding fine. A beautiful copy.

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