ELIOT, George.

£1,250 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Daniel Deronda. First edition in book form of the author's last completed novel, her only work set in contemporary times, and her most controversial. This is the first printing, with the errata uncorrected. The novel was originally issued in parts from February to September 1876.The title character was based on Emanuel Deutsch, a Jewish scholar who Eliot met in the 1860s and who taught her Hebrew. Keen to confront Victorian antisemitism, Eliot was nonetheless nervous about the novel, writing in her journal in 1876 that "the Jewish element seems to me likely to satisfy nobody" (Letters, p. 238). Despite the fact that the novel did indeed puzzle critics, who praised "the 'English' parts for the familiar humour and insight, while they felt awkward about the 'Jewish element'", Eliot still earned over £9,000 from its publication (ODNB).

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