Ten thousand a year

Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1841. FIRST ENGLISH EDITION. Includes all half-titles and publisher’s advertisements. Original publisher’s cloth decorated in blind; all volumes have been re-backed with the original back-strips laid down. Small ownership stamp with crown and initial “D” in each volume. First English edition of one of the most famous novels about law. This tragi-comic novel became one of the most popular books of the century. It is an account of Mr. Tittlebat Titmouse, a draper’s assistant, who comes into a large fortune thanks to documents forged by lawyers. Having successfully ousted the rightful owners of the property, the lawyers proceed to blackmail Titmouse. He marries Lady Cecilia, the daughter of the earl of Dredlington, and is returned to parliament by reckless corruption. Mr. Titmouse and his didactic rise and fall via legal fraud and lawyers is legendary. Warren’s novels are usually recommended to law students. His last novel, Now and then, was made into a major film. Warren (1807-77) was an English novelist and lawyer who gained fame for his arguments against the insanity defense. After studying medicine in Edinburgh, he took up law, becoming a barrister and writing several text-books on the subject. Although most of his novels were published anonymously, he was known for his literary vanity, and was not beyond sending in glowing reviews of his own works to magazines. NCBEL, III, 970; Sadleir, 3034; Wolff, 7072.