JAMES, Henry.

£17,500 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

The Bostonians. First edition, originally published within the Century Magazine, February 1885 to February 1886. There were numerous revisions between serial and book publication. F. R. Leavis was to claim that the book was "one of the two most brilliant novels in the language" (the other being The Portrait of a Lady).Wittersham House in Kent dates from the early 19th century but the exterior was rebuilt in 1907 by Sir Edwin Lutyens for Alfred Lyttelton (1857-1913), the lawyer, politician and sportsman. James certainly knew Lyttelton and his wife: in his autobiography, A. C. Benson recalled his meeting in July 1884 with Henry James at which Miss Laura Tennant, soon to become Lyttelton's wife, was also present.In April 1886, a couple of months after publication of The Bostonians, Lyttelton's wife died of complications from childbirth. James wrote a heartfelt letter of condolence: "I cannot bear to write to you - for even the tenderest speech of friends must seem to you today intrusive & almost impertinent. But I can bear still less to keep silent when my heart is full of the constant compassionate thought of you & of the infinitely touching vision, & remembrance never to be lost, of her..."As required by Edel and Laurence, this set includes 2 pp. of publisher's advertisements at the rear of vol. 2 and 4 pp. of publisher's advertisements at the rear of vol. 3. Edel and Laurence state that the first printing was of 500 copies, published 16 February 1886, with a second undifferen

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