PHINEAS FINN, The Irish Member. A Novel

1868. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1868. 2 pp preliminary ads plus 4 pp terminal ads, undated. Original greyish-purple cloth lettered in gilt.

First American Edition of one of Trollope's six "political novels" -- "it is in fact the first in which the affairs of the parliamentary world are of major interest" [Gerould]. Trollope's comment in his autobiography: It is all fairly good except the ending, -- as to which till I got to it I had made no provision. As I fully intended to bring my hero again into the world, I was wrong to marry him to a simple pretty Irish girl, who could only be felt as an encumbrance on such return. When he did return (truncated) [in PHINEAS REDUX] I had no alternative but to kill the simple pretty Irish girl, which was an unpleasant and awkward necessity. This is often touted as the true first edition, since it is dated 1868 and the London two-decker is dated 1869; however, according to Smith this American edition was not actually issued to the public until March 17, 1869, the same month as the London edition. (Harper had paid the UK publisher £100 for advance sheets.) Cited on the spine but not on the title page, the illustrator was John Everett Millais -- with 17 of his 20 plates that had appeared in UK serialization (in Saint Paul's Magazine). This copy is in greyish-purple honeycomb-grain cloth (one of several colors and grains of cloth, plus wrappers, used without precedence). It is in near-fine condition (slight wear at the extremities, a bit of fading as usual with this color). Smith 23; Sadleir (TROLLOPE) p. 91; not in Wolff. (Inventory #: 15691)