Felix Holt: The Radical.

ELIOT, George.

$800.00

Item Number: 147727

Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1866.

First edition of this classic political work. Sextodecimo, three volumes, half-calf bound in three quarter morocco over marbled boards with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, top edge gilt, marbled endpapers. In very good condition with rubbing to the hinges and extremities, light toning.

Felix Holt: The Radical by George Eliot is a political novel set in the aftermath of the 1832 Reform Act in England, exploring themes of class, politics, and social reform. The story follows Felix Holt, an idealistic working-class radical, and Esther Lyon, a young woman torn between personal ambition and social responsibility. Through their intertwined lives, Eliot examines the tensions between individual morality and collective progress. The novel critiques the limitations of political reform without addressing deeper societal inequalities, highlighting Eliot’s engagement with contemporary debates on democracy and social change.