first edition 2 vols. 8vo
1820 · Edinburgh
by Maturin, Charles Robert
Edinburgh: Printed for Archibald Constable and Company, and Hurst, Robinson, and Co. Cheapside, London, 1820. First edition. 2 vols. 8vo. Mid-nineteenth century half calf and marbled boards. Bound without half titles. Some rubbing, and some external repair. Very good. First edition. 2 vols. 8vo. The Labyrinth of Narrative: The Last Great Gothic Novel. "Balzac praised Melmoth ... and Baudelaire thought that 'ce pâle et ennuyé Melmoth' (this pale and bored Melmoth) was one of the great literary creations. Oscar Wilde was a great-nephew of Maturin and plainly knew the work. The portrait in the Melmoth house seems a clear ancestor to Wilde's novel The Picture of Dorian Gray (1891)" (Wessells)
Wilde's friend Robert Ross wrote the biographical note to the three-volume edition published by Richard Bentley & Sons (1892). Loeber M316; Bleiler (1983) 1134; Tymn 1-244; Sadleir 1667; Wolff 4650; Jones and Newman 9; Reginald (1979) 09826; Wessells 3. See also The Correspondence of Sir Walter Scott and Charles Robert Maturin (1937) (Inventory #: 346722)
Wilde's friend Robert Ross wrote the biographical note to the three-volume edition published by Richard Bentley & Sons (1892). Loeber M316; Bleiler (1983) 1134; Tymn 1-244; Sadleir 1667; Wolff 4650; Jones and Newman 9; Reginald (1979) 09826; Wessells 3. See also The Correspondence of Sir Walter Scott and Charles Robert Maturin (1937) (Inventory #: 346722)