The Works of Laurence Sterne.

STERNE, Laurence.

Item Number: 2704

London: Sharpe & Son, 1819.

Octavo, 4 volumes. Bound by Baytun. Full leather, elaborate tooling to the spine and front panel. Marbled endpapers. In near fine condition.

Tristram Shandy is considered by many the first modern novel and Sterne the father of stream of consciousness writing. It is perhaps the most literal example of a novel available. Sterne was an Anglican Vicar who was influenced by Pope, Locke, Swift and Cervantes. His narrative devices and styles have indelibly influenced many modern and postmodern authors: James Joyce, Virginia Woolf, Milan Kundera, Salmon Rushdie among others. "Shall we forever make new books, as apothecaries make new mixtures, by pouring out of one vessel into another?" (Lawrence Sterne).