first edition
1824 · London
by Irving, Washington
London: John Murray, 1824. First edition. Near Fine. This British edition, which includes five pieces not present in the American edition, was published in on August 25, 1824. Though volume one of the American edition had been published by Carey & Lea on August 23, volume two was not published until October of that year (Bowden). The complete full text, with the five ommitted pieces, was first published in the United States in 1825.
Two volumes, octavo. 364; 394 pp. BAL state A with the blank p. 395 (state B with a piracy notice printed on p. 395 – no priority). With a portrait plate of Washington Irving (from a copy of Fraser's Magazine) bound in facing title-page. Bound by Adlard & Lycett in nineteenth-century half polished calf over marbled boards. Gilt spines in six compartments with black morocco labels. Some edgewear and rubbing to boards. Marbled edges. Twentieth-century bookplate to upper pastedown of volume one. Small contemporary ownership signature to corner of one preliminary blank in each volume. Very clean and fresh throughout. An attractive, Near Fine copy.
First edition of Irving’s collection of short stories, published under his pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon, all of which are here printed for the first time. Irving wrote to his sister Catharine that "for my own part, I think there are in it some of the best things I have ever written" (Washington Irving: The Definitive Biography). Irving had previously published his Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, which compiled stories like "The Legend of Seepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle." "The Sketch Book was a celebrated event in American literary history. The collection was the first American work of short stories to gain international success and popularity" (Britannica)
This British edition of Tales of a Traveller includes an introductory piece ("To the Reader") and four stories ommitted from the American edition: "The Adventure of the German Student," "Notoriety," "A Practical Philosopher," and "The Belated Travellers." The additional pieces were not published in the United States until the second American edition of 1825, "when the extra material of the first London edition was added...So the first London edition established the full contents that were to remain constant...through the printing history of the work" (Bowden).
BAL 10115. Bowden, Washington Irving: A Bibliography, p. 216. Near Fine. (Inventory #: 7294)
Two volumes, octavo. 364; 394 pp. BAL state A with the blank p. 395 (state B with a piracy notice printed on p. 395 – no priority). With a portrait plate of Washington Irving (from a copy of Fraser's Magazine) bound in facing title-page. Bound by Adlard & Lycett in nineteenth-century half polished calf over marbled boards. Gilt spines in six compartments with black morocco labels. Some edgewear and rubbing to boards. Marbled edges. Twentieth-century bookplate to upper pastedown of volume one. Small contemporary ownership signature to corner of one preliminary blank in each volume. Very clean and fresh throughout. An attractive, Near Fine copy.
First edition of Irving’s collection of short stories, published under his pseudonym Geoffrey Crayon, all of which are here printed for the first time. Irving wrote to his sister Catharine that "for my own part, I think there are in it some of the best things I have ever written" (Washington Irving: The Definitive Biography). Irving had previously published his Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, which compiled stories like "The Legend of Seepy Hollow" and "Rip Van Winkle." "The Sketch Book was a celebrated event in American literary history. The collection was the first American work of short stories to gain international success and popularity" (Britannica)
This British edition of Tales of a Traveller includes an introductory piece ("To the Reader") and four stories ommitted from the American edition: "The Adventure of the German Student," "Notoriety," "A Practical Philosopher," and "The Belated Travellers." The additional pieces were not published in the United States until the second American edition of 1825, "when the extra material of the first London edition was added...So the first London edition established the full contents that were to remain constant...through the printing history of the work" (Bowden).
BAL 10115. Bowden, Washington Irving: A Bibliography, p. 216. Near Fine. (Inventory #: 7294)
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