The Woman in White

by Wilkie Collins

illustrated by John McLenan 

First U.S. edition.  New York:  Harper & Brothers, 1860   

Hardback is overall in VERY GOOD condition.

• Brown cloth covers have blind tooled frames and publisher's monogram. 
• Boards show some bumps, scuffing, edgewear.  Corners are bumped, worn, with exposed board.  See photos.
• Spine has gilt text and female figure in blind, and is bright with wear at the shoulders and chipped ends.  See photos.  
• Binding, somewhat slanted, is secure.  
• Russet end papers/ pastedowns show some splitting, have a cliipping pasted in at front cover, some writing.  See photos.  
• "A.F. Blaisdell's Library" stamped on title page.
• Illustrations, black and white, are bright and clear.  
• Interior is gently age-toned, exhibits some smudges, a few small corner turn-ups. 
• Inside pages are free of writing and intentional marks.
• Text block edges have a few marks. 
• PS2025.0604

260 pages. 5.75 x 9.25 inches

First U.S. Edition, a Very Good copy in publisher's tooled brown cloth, the second binding with the woman in black on the spine.  Gilt title is bright, publisher's adverts at front and rear are State B.  Text block is tanned with a smattering of smudges.  

With The Woman in White, Wilkie Collins (1824-1889) created a new literary genre -- sensational fiction, combining Gothic horror and psychological realism -- which profoundly changed the course of English popular writing.  The novel is a deviously plotted story of an affable art tutor, Walter Hartright, who encounters a lost woman, clad in all white, on the streets of London.  He reports her to the authorities only to discover that she had escaped from an asylum.  Later, Walter is hired as an art teacher for Laura, who looks stunningly similar to the woman in white he met previously.  As Laura and Walter fall for one another, the mystery deepens and the story slowly unravels.  

The illustrations for the U.S. edition are by John McLenan (1827-1865), a noted caricaturist who illustrated works by Dickens and Collins for Harper's Weekly. 

Pasted into the front cover is a clipping of "As the World Wags," a column by Philip Hale (1854-1934) that appeared in The Boston Herald, praising McLenan's illustrations.

First U.S. Edition; state B of the ads (August 1860, Mulock), second binding (woman in black).  

Please see photos. More photos available upon request.

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