Anthony Trollope — The Claverings

London, Smith, Elder and Co, 1867 . First edition. Leather. The two volume first edition in book form of this classic Victorian era Anthony Trollope novel. The first UK edition in book form, originally published serially from February 1866 to May 1867 in the Cornhill Magazine. Illustrated with sixteen plates from English illustrator Mary Ellen Edwards. Collated, complete.The novel tells the story of a young man starting out in life who must find himself a profession and a wife, and of a young woman who makes a marriage of convenience and must accept the consequences of her decision.With the inscription G H Davey to recto of frontispieces, and binder's label of W. Whittington of Neath to rear pastedowns.Sadleir describes this as one of Trollope's five technically faultless books: 'there is not a loose end, not a patch of drowsiness, not a moment of false proportion&apos. In half calf bindings with marbled paper covered boards. Fading to spines, with losses of leather to back strip heads and tails. Front joint of volume I, and tail of front and rear joints of volume II starting. Front hinge of volume I strained, with boards holding firm. Binders label to rear pastedowns. Inscriptions to recto of frontispieces. Internally, firmly bound. Pages generally bright, with handling marks throughout each volume - most concentrated to volume I - and the odd spot. Good . Ill.: M. Ellen Edwards. Good .