“HIS FINAL PERFORMANCE”

RICHARDSON, Samuel. The History of Sir Charles Grandison. London: Chapman & Hall, 1902. Seven volumes. 12mo, contemporary three-quarter red calf, raised bands, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, green morocco spine labels, marbled boards and endpapers, top edges gilt, uncut. $950.

Later edition, with 28 plates reproducing 18th-century engraved illustrations by Thomas Stothard, handsomely bound by Sangorski & Sutcliffe.

"His final performance, Sir Charles Grandison, was to be a pendant to the portrait of a good woman in Clarissa, and he originally intended to call it 'The Good Man.… Though it has never held so high a position as Clarissa, [it] was received with equal enthusiasm at the time" (DNB). Grandison sold well and quickly became the rage, though some critics assailed it for its "doubtful morality" (Drabble, 829). Jane Austen, however, liked Sir Charles Grandison so much that she wrote a play based on it.

Interior fine, light rubbing to spines and boards. A very handsome set.