Hardcover
1665 · London
by HEAD, Richard, and KIRKMAN, Francis
London: Henry Marsh, 1665. Hardcover. Complete 4-volume set. 12mo. Quarter dark green calf with gilt spine lettering and raised bands and green patterned cloth. xvii, (5pp), 471pp; (24pp), 378pp; (4pp), 304pp; (6pp), 324pp. Top edges gilt. Frontispieces (Volumes 1 and 3), full-page plates, marbled endpapers. Very good. Faint edgewear only. Superb, handsome copy in custom binding of the first English novel translated into a continental language (German). Bibliographically cryptic, as this clearly isn't the true first edition, but rather a late 19th century facsimile that some sources date at 1874. Francis Kirkman is given as the publisher for the 1671 second volume, the 1674 third volume and 1680 fourth volume -- all of which Head denied any association with, claiming the first volume only as his. The true first edition is rare and this later facsimile also scarce.
(Inventory #: 43339)