THE BADDINGTON PEERAGE: WHO WON, AND WHO WORE IT. A STORY OF THE BEST AND THE WORST OF SOCIETY by Sala, George Augustus - 1860

London: Charles J. Skeet, 1860. Three volumes. Original plum cloth, decorated in blind, stamped in gilt. Some sunning and light spotting to the spines, pencil erasures from rear pastedown of third volume, otherwise a very good, bright, tight set. First edition. In his autobiography, Sala commented on the genesis and limited success of this novel: " ... Henry Vizetelly told me that he would give me as much work as ever I could undertake on the ILLUSTRATED TIMES; and encouraged me to write in that paper a novel called 'The Baddington Peerage.' Of course, James Hannay at once dubbed it 'The Paddington Beerage.' It was subsequently published in three-volume form; and I candidly confessed in the preface that it was about the worst novel ever perpetrated; and re-reading it at Brighton more than thirty years afterwards, I saw no reason to alter my original opinion. There was no plot to speak of in 'The Baddington Peerage;' although the incidents comprised at least one murder, a duel à mort, an incendiary fire and a suicide. There was no character worth mentioning beyond a felonious medical student and a wicked duchess. This lamentable romance nevertheless obtained one distinctly favourable review in the ATHENAEUM; and I subsequently learned that the reviewer was Miss Geraldine Jewsbury, the intimate friend of Mrs Carlyle." Not in Sadleir. WOLFF 6093. NCBEL III:963.