Henry James — The Golden Bowl

London, Methuen & Co, 1905 . First edition. Cloth. The first UK edition, first issue of Henry James's celebrated and claustrophobic study of marriage and adultery. The scarce first UK edition of this work, published shortly after the US first edition.Edel & Laurence, A60b. The first issue, with the forty page catalogue to the rear dated February 1905.Set in England at the turn of the century, the reader follows the marriage of the charismatic Italian nobleman Prince Amerigo and his wife Maggie Verver, the only child of a very wealthy American financier and art collector. The novel focuses almost exclusively on the consciousness of the four central characters, with sometimes obsessive detail, in a style often viewed as anticipating the works of such writers as Woolf and Joyce.This is generally considered to be one of James' best works. In the publisher's original cloth binding. Bumping to back strip head and tail, with rubbing to joints and board perimeters. Rear joint starting, with board slightly tender. Front hinge strained, with board somewhat tenderly held. Internally, firmly bound. Pages clean and bright, with spotting to advertisements at rear. Good . Ill.: None. Good .