Nineteenth Century Women Writers George Eliot The Mill on the Floss 1860 First Edition Depicting Gender Expectations in Victorian England

George Eliot

First Edition

Eliot, George. The Mill on the Floss published in 1860 is the second novel by Mary Ann Evans writing under the pen name George Eliot and remains one of the central works of nineteenth century English literature examining gender expectations, family conflict, and social mobility in Victorian society. The novel follows the lives of siblings Maggie and Tom Tulliver as they confront financial decline, family tensions, and the rigid moral codes governing women’s behavior and marriage prospects. Evans adopted the masculine pen name George Eliot in order to ensure her work would be taken seriously in the male dominated literary culture of Victorian Britain, and her novels became major contributions to the development of psychological realism in English fiction.

Eliot, George. The Mill on the Floss. London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1860. First edition, first printing. Three volumes containing 993 pages in total, with pagination of 361 pages in volume I, 319 pages in volume II, and 313 pages in volume III. The novel formed part of Eliot’s early literary career and established her reputation following the success of Adam Bede published the previous year. The work presents a detailed portrait of provincial English life and the social constraints surrounding women’s education, ambition, and marriage in the mid nineteenth century.

Eliot went on to publish seven full length novels including Middlemarch, widely regarded as one of the most significant achievements in Victorian fiction. Her writing explored the intellectual and moral life of provincial England and examined the tensions between personal aspiration and social expectation. The present three volume set measures approximately 7.5 × 5 inches and is uniformly bound in deep turquoise leather by the binder Bayntun with gilt stamped titles and date on the spines. Douglas Clan bookplates with the family crest and motto “Jamais Arriere” appear on the pastedowns. Spines are evenly sunned to an olive tone with ribbon markers present. Binding remains tight and square with firm hinges, gilt dentelle borders to the inner covers, and marbled endpapers. Near fine condition and an attractive bound example of Eliot’s early major novel.

Item #20716

Price: $1,250.00