The History of Tom Jones, A Foundling.

FIELDING, Henry.

$7,200.00

Item Number: 3894

London: Printed for A. Millar, 1749.

First edition, first issue, one of a first printing run of only 2,000 copies with errata leaf in volume one, the errata uncorrected, and all cancels and final blanks, K12 in volume one and R12 in volume three (Rothschild 850). Octavo, 6 volumes, bound in full crushed morocco by Bayntun, red and black morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, raised bands, blind-stamped inner dentelles. A very nice set of first editions, finely bound by Bayntun.

"The book is generally regarded as Fielding’s greatest, and as one of the first and most influential of English novels" (Drabble, 988). "Such was the demand that all 2,500 copies in print had already been sold by the date announced for its official publication, a phenomenon that one observer believed to be 'an unheard-of case.' Tom Jones quickly sold 10,000 copies, making it one of the great best-sellers of its time; it has never since been out of print." (John Allen Stevenson, The Real History of Tom Jones).