Charles Kingsley — Two Years Ago & Yeast: A Problem

London, Macmillan and Co, 1890. Leather. A late nineteenth century edition of two of Charles Kingsley's novels, attractively bound together in leather with gilt lettering, decoration, and spine label. Yeast: Fourth Edition. Bears the insignia of the School of St John the Divine on the front board. Charles Kingsley (1819–1875) was a novelist, Church of England clergyman, and controversialist. In 1848, despite his interest in the problems of urban workers, Kingsley turned to the plight of agricultural labourers when his novel Yeast appeared serially in Fraser's Magazine. The Crimean War and the outbreak of cholera in 1853–4 were invoked in his novel Two Years Ago (1857), his most successful and coherent novel of contemporary life. Kingsley's continuing concern with sanitary reform, which had led him to join a deputation to the prime minister on the subject in 1854, was dramatised in the efforts of his doctor hero to combat cholera and unhealthy housing conditions. However, in the novel he did express satisfaction with improvements in the conditions of agricultural life since Yeast. In a full calf binding. There is some mild wear to the extremities, with some mild bumping with loss to the leather at the top of the spine, and some mild rubbing to the edges. The rear hinge is just starting, but still firm. The front board and pastedown is attached by the cords only, and may become detached in the post. The binding is tight and firm. Internally the pages are clean with mild browning. Overall the condition is good only due to the damaged hinges, with a very good interior. Good Only . Ill.: None. Good Only .