XIX Century Fiction, A Bibliographical Record Based on His Own Collection [2 volumes, complete; 1951 First Edition]

London: Constable & Co., Ltd., 1951. 1951. First Editions. 2 separate HARDCOVER volumes, complete. Limited to 1,025 sets. Very Good condition but for small brown speckles (foxing) -- moderate on the endpapers; otherwise quite light. NO underlining. NO highlighting. NO margin notes. A key reference. Vol. I: xxxiii, 399pp. + 32 plates. Vol II: vi, 195pp. + 16 plates. Contained here are thousands of detailed descriptions, many with extensive notes. Illustrated with 48 plates on glossy paper, mostly photos of bindings and title pages. NO foxing on the plates. The introductory essay should be required reading for all book collectors. According to Otto Penzler, "these volumes illustrate how great a collection can be." In his address to the 1995 annual meeting of the Bibliographical Society of America, Stephen Weissman of Ximenes Rare Books paid tribute to this work. He said XIX CENTURY FICTION "remains to this day perhaps my favorite single contribution to bibliography. I am not alone in my admiration... If a new collector comes into my shop, as happens from time to time, or if a young bookseller asks me for guidance, as happens all too often these days, this is inevitably the first book I recommend... (Sadleir's) book has had as much influence on collecting, whether sentimental or scholarly, as any other I can think of." Among the authors comprehensively covered are W. H. Ainsworth, R. D. Blackmore, the Brontes, Bulwer Lytton, Wilkie Collins, Charles Dickens, Benjamin Disraeli, George Eliot, Elizabeth Gaskell, George Gissing, Thomas Hardy, Henry James, Richard Jefferies, Charles Kingsley, Henry Kingsley, Joseph Le Fanu, Charles Lever, Frederick Marryat, George Meredith, Ouida, Charles Reade, Somerville & Ross, William Thackeray, Anthony Trollope, Mrs. Frances Trollope, Mrs. Henry Wood, etc. Works by many other authors, such as Poe, Stowe, Twain, Melville, and Hawthorne, are also described. Printed by the University Press, Cambridge for Constable & Company, Ltd. Breslauer/Folter 209: "The fundamental bibliography of Regency and Victorian fiction... by one of the most influential English bibliographers..." Top edges gilt. Uniformly bound in the original gilt-stamped maroon cloth. Besterman 2159. Oversize Hardcover. 9" wide by 11.25" tall. This heavy 2 volume set will require extra postage for Priority and International shipments. But for media mail, you pay only our standard charge for 1 volume and we ship the second volume at no extra cost.. First Edition, Limited to 1,025 copies. Oversize Hardcover. Very Good condition (foxing)/No jackets. Illus. by We ship 2 volumes for cost of 1. 2 volumes: xxxiii, 399pp. + vi, 195pp. Great Packaging, Fast Shipping.