THE EUSTACE DIAMONDS. A Novel

1872. New York: Harper & Brothers, 1872. 4 pp preliminary undated ads. Original medium-green cloth.

First Edition (Harper's one-volume edition was published in October 1872; the London three-decker, dated 1873, came out two months later, in December 1872). This is Trollope's tale about the adventuress Lizzie Greystock -- "the very beautiful, superficially clever and completely selfish daughter of an admiral who was no credit whatever to the British Navy" [Gerould]. She trapped wealthy Sir Florian Eustace into marrying her just before he died, and so came into possession of a diamond necklace -- which she claimed he had given her but his (truncated) relatives claimed as an heirloom. But then the necklace was stolen not once but twice, or was it actually?... As a "Palliser" novel, it includes many of the same characters who had been in CAN YOU FORGIVE HER? and in PHINEAS FINN. On this copy the green is fairly light, and the grain of the cloth is diagonal; other copies are a darker green, with the grain consisting of tiny squares, and still other copies are in terra-cotta cloth (no priority known). This is a clean, bright copy, near-fine with only very light shelf-wear at the extremities; the front flyleaf has an inked inscription dated October 1872 -- the month of publication. THE EUSTACE DIAMONDS is one of the more sought-after American editions of Trollope, due to its definite precedence over the British edition. See Sadleir (TROLLOPE) 39. (Inventory #: 15693)