Cloudesley: a Tale, by the Author of "Caleb Williams by Godwin, William - 1830

London: Henry Colburn and Richard Bentley, 1830. First edition. xiv, 274; [ii], 282; [ii], 345. Bound without ads in volumes I and III. 3 vols. 12mo. Contemporary quarter black calf and marbled boards. Endpapers foxed, upper joint of second volume repaired, otherwise a very nice copy. Front free endpapers bear the pencilled ownership inscription of James Wood. First edition. xiv, 274; [ii], 282; [ii], 345. Bound without ads in volumes I and III. 3 vols. 12mo. Godwin's fifth novel, published when he was 74 years old. "Cloudesley is a story of deceit and usurpation, fraud and prolonged guilt; but, far more importantly, it is the story of how a man raises himself from crime to transcend not only his own past but the apparently inexorable laws of blood-relations and class divisions ... [it[ is the greatest example of a theme frequently returned to in Godwin's work, a theme obviously close to his heart: the ability of human beings to transcend the apparent logic of consanguinity and to form parental and filial relations with those to whom they are not related by blood." (Allen, Graham. "Cloudesley; A Tale". The Literary Encyclopedia). Wolff 2386