85 Lovely Early Tauchnitz Edition Of The Novels Of The Bronte Sisters, Beautifully Bound By Zaehnsdorf 115BRONTE, Charlotte, Emily and Anne. Collection of British Authors. Tauchnitz Edition. Vol. 145 (146, 180, 181, 201, 202, 266, 267, 404). Leipzig, 1849-57 [but actually circa 186080]. Nine volumes. 12mo, late 19th-century half tan calf gilt. $5000 Early Continental “Tauchnitz” editions of the novels of the Brontë sisters, printed under the Brontës’ pseudonyms of Currier, Ellis, and Acton Bell as part of the German publisher’s “Collection of British Authors” series, handsomely bound in calf-gilt by Zaehnsdorf. “The Tauchnitz firm, which was located in Leipzig, Germany, included in its major publications works by contemporary English writers which were printed in English and offered for sale outside of England and its Colonies… Since the firm retained the original imprint date of an edition through all subsequent impressions, it is difficult to identify and classify variants, and many may exist that have not been recorded in any reference work” (Smith, 51). Given the setting of the half titles, title pages and the dropping of the “Jun.” from Tauchnitz’s name in the earlier imprints, these editions are certainly post-1860 reprints, and not first Continental editions. Interiors clean, corners gently rubbed. A beautifully bound set in excellent condition. “In Manhood I Could Only Sip The Cup” 116MASTERS, Edgar Lee. Spoon River Anthology. New York, 1915. Small octavo, original black- and gilt-stamped blue cloth. $4000 First edition, first issue, inscribed by the poet with the entire poem “Francis Turner” from the work, “For E— [Text of Poem] Edgar Lee Masters, May 10-1941.” A lawyer by trade, Masters, in 1914, “began a series of poems about his boyhood experiences in western Illinois, published (under the pseudonym Webster Ford) in Reedy’s Mirror (St. Louis). This was the beginning of Spoon River Anthology (1915), the book that would make his reputation and become one of the most popular and widely known works in all of American literature” (ANB). Masters envisioned the work—over 200 short, free verse poems voiced by dead residents of the fictional Spoon River, Illinois— as “a kind of Divine Comedy,” representing a full range of humanity from the noble to the foolish, the saints and—in particular— the sinners. First issue, measuring seven-eighths of an inch across the top. Very nearly fine.
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