George Eliot [Mary Ann Evans] — Adam Bede

Edinburgh , William Blackwood and Sons , 1859. Cloth. A smart fourth edition of Mary Ann Evans' debut novel, published pseudonymously under her famed pen name George Eliot. Fourth edition. Published the same year as the first. Complete in two volumes. In the publisher's cloth binding. Adam Bede follows the lives of four characters in the fictional rural community of Hayslope, particularly revolving around the love "rectangle" involving Hetty Sorrel, Captain Arthur Donnithorne, Adam Bede, and Dinah Morris. This was Mary Ann Evans' first long novel, described by her as "a country story - full of the breath of cows and the scent of hay". First published in 1859, the novel has remained in print ever since and is regularly used in university studies of 19th-century English literature.Sixteen-page catalogue of publisher's advertisements to rear of Vol. II. In the publisher's blind-stamped cloth binding, with gilt to the spines. Externally, smart, with mild rubbing and bumping to the extremities. Marks to the cloth. Newspaper clipping tipped-in to Vol I. front paste down. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are generally bright, with occasional spots or handling marks. Contemporary ink inscription to title page and front free endpaper Vol. II. Tipped-in paper to title page Vol I covering contemporary ink inscription there. Very Good . Ill.: None. Very Good .