TO CALL HER MINE, ETC. London: Chatto & Windus, 1889. Octavo, pp. [i-iv] 1-432 + 32-page publisher's catalogue dated "April, 1889" inserted at rear, nine inserted plates with illustrations by A. Forestier, original decorated maroon cloth, front panel stamped in black and gray, spine panel stamped in black, gray and gold, rear panel blind-stamped with publisher's monogram, top edge untrimmed, floral patterned endpapers. First edition. Collects three novellas: TO CALL HER MINE, KATHERINE REGINA, and SELF OR BEARER. The last two appeared earlier as Christmas annuals. "This may be the first publication of the title story, but I would not be surprised it it too had been an Annual or Christmas number to start with." - Wolff 462. " ... Besant was ranked by contemporaries with the best English novelists. In 1893, when he and William Black and Thomas Hardy wrote a joint letter defending American publishers against the charges of piracy before the passage of the new international copyright law, Kipling protested in a ballad calling them 'the three great captains'" (ibid., vol. I, p. 75). Besant was the driving force behind the creation in the 1880s of the Society of Authors, which strove to protect the legal rights and interests of writers. Hubin (1994), p. 69. Sadleir 204 (recording an October 1889 inserted catalogue). Owner's name on front free endpaper, penciled gift inscription on recto of frontispiece. Slight spine lean, cloth lightly rubbed at lower spine end and lower corner tips, a bright, tight, very good copy. (#113419).
Price: $150.00
No statement of printing.