THE COCK AND ANCHOR. Illustrated by Brinsley Le Fanu.
London: Downey & Co., No Date [1895]. First Illustrated Edition. Hardcover. Octavo, original pictorial terra-cotta cloth repeating the title page design in gilt and black on front panel, spine panel lettered in gilt, rear panel with publisher's device in blind. 358 pp + [2] pp ads at rear. Half-tone frontispiece with tissue guard, pictorial title and 8 full-page plates (all on plate paper and not included in the pagination), as well as numerous illustrations in the text, all by Brinsley le Fanu. Slight spine lean, cloth worn at spine ends and corner tips, several creases to free endpapers, a very good copy with tight inner hinges and sound text block. A solid, much better than average copy. Very Good. Item #312843
¶ The author's first book, first published anonymously in Dublin in three volumes in 1845 under the title 'The Cock and the Anchor: a Chronicle of Old Dublin City'. "A dreadful story of the conspiracy of a number of preternaturally wicked and inhuman villains to ruin a young spendthrift baronet, and to compel his sister to marry one of themselves. The threads of the story are woven with considerable skill. The tale, a gloomy one throughout, reaches its climax in a scene of intense and concentrated excitement." - Brown, Ireland in Fiction 904.
Price: $250.00