BLACKSTICK PAPERS

New York: G.P. Putnam's Sons, 1908. First Edition. Hardcover. Fine/Very good. A collection of essays on topics ranging from Joseph Haydn and Joseph Joachim to Mrs. Gaskell and Thomas Bewick. The eldest daughter of William Makepeace Thackeray, Lady Ritchie is noted especially as the custodian of her father's literary legacy, and for short fiction that places fairy tale narratives in a Victorian milieu. She was also a step-aunt of Virginia Woolf, and is thought to have inspired the character of Mrs Hilbery in Woolf's novel Night and Day (1919). Octavo: vii, [1], 291, [1], [4, ads] pp. with a frontispiece and 2 plates. Original burgundy cloth binding, with gilt-stamped titles and decorations. A fine copy in the uncommon dust jacket, which is lightly toned along the spine and folds with a scuff to the rear panel and some mild edgewear. (Inventory #: 78163)