Silas Marner: The Weaver of Raveloe

Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1861. First edition of George Eliot’s third novel, a fable of love and redemption set in a realistically detailed, rapidly industrializing England. Silas Marner, a weaver cast out of his community and despised as a miser, is saved by the unexpected arrival of a newly orphaned little girl: “We see no white-winged angels now. But yet men are led away from threatening destruction: a hand is put into theirs, which leads them forth gently towards a calm and bright land, so that they look no more backward; and the hand may be a little child’s.” Carter’s binding A, with elaborate gilt stamping to spine. Baker (truncated) & Ross A6.1.a. A bright near-fine copy. Octavo, measuring 7.75 x 4.5 inches: [4], [6], 364, 16.​ Original embossed cinnamon cloth tooled in blind, spine lettered and ornamented in gilt, pale yellow endpapers. Text uncut and largely unopened. Advertisement for Alexander Carlyle’s autobiography inserted between front endpapers; publisher’s 16-page catalogue bound at rear. Binder’s ticket (Burn of London) to lower pastedown. Spine gilt slightly dulled; text block overopened at pages 80-81. Housed in a custom slipcase. (Inventory #: 1004097)