first edition
1903
by Gissing, George
1903. Westminster: Archibald Constable & Co., 1903. 6 pp undated ads. Original green cloth.
First Edition, which consisted of 1,750 copies (plus 500 printed for America and 750 printed for the colonies). This semi-fictional autobiographical work is one of Gissing's best-known: he casts himself as the editor of a diary of a deceased acquaintance, selecting for posthumous publication essays which constitute Ryecroft's frank assessments of society and politics. Through Ryecroft, Gissing looks back on his life (soon to end) of what he considered meagre success. It seems astounding that Gissing had difficulty in finding a publisher to take the book. [His agent] Pinker offered it to Chapman and Hall, publishers... of his last two books. In after years the firm must have bitterly rued its failure to press its initial offer. Archibald Constable, one of the better houses, reached agreement with Pinker... Constable's editor suggested the new title [replacing AN AUTHOR AT GRASS] for what was essentially a serious not a satirical book. Gissing supplied an index, reinforcing the impression of a genuine diary. The book was an unambiguous success. Widely noticed in laudatory reviews, it went into four editions in three months, and was the success of the moment [S&C]. This is a fine, bright copy (very slight pulling of the delicate endpapers), essentially without soil or other wear. Coustillas A25.1(a); Collie A24a; Spiers & Coustillas BB9; Sadleir 975; Wolff 2555. (Inventory #: 15642)
First Edition, which consisted of 1,750 copies (plus 500 printed for America and 750 printed for the colonies). This semi-fictional autobiographical work is one of Gissing's best-known: he casts himself as the editor of a diary of a deceased acquaintance, selecting for posthumous publication essays which constitute Ryecroft's frank assessments of society and politics. Through Ryecroft, Gissing looks back on his life (soon to end) of what he considered meagre success. It seems astounding that Gissing had difficulty in finding a publisher to take the book. [His agent] Pinker offered it to Chapman and Hall, publishers... of his last two books. In after years the firm must have bitterly rued its failure to press its initial offer. Archibald Constable, one of the better houses, reached agreement with Pinker... Constable's editor suggested the new title [replacing AN AUTHOR AT GRASS] for what was essentially a serious not a satirical book. Gissing supplied an index, reinforcing the impression of a genuine diary. The book was an unambiguous success. Widely noticed in laudatory reviews, it went into four editions in three months, and was the success of the moment [S&C]. This is a fine, bright copy (very slight pulling of the delicate endpapers), essentially without soil or other wear. Coustillas A25.1(a); Collie A24a; Spiers & Coustillas BB9; Sadleir 975; Wolff 2555. (Inventory #: 15642)
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