Spirit of George Prince Regent James, Esq., forgive me this commencement! * * I mean no offence whatsoever to this distinguished and multitudinous writer; but the commencement of this novel really resembled that of so many of his that I was anxious to avoid the charge of imitating him. It was one evening at the close of a September month and a September day that two equestrians might be observed passing along one of those old and lonely Irish roads that seemed, from the nature of its construction, to have been paved by a ...
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Spirit of George Prince Regent James, Esq., forgive me this commencement! * * I mean no offence whatsoever to this distinguished and multitudinous writer; but the commencement of this novel really resembled that of so many of his that I was anxious to avoid the charge of imitating him. It was one evening at the close of a September month and a September day that two equestrians might be observed passing along one of those old and lonely Irish roads that seemed, from the nature of its construction, to have been paved by a society of antiquarians, if a person could judge from its obsolete character, and the difficulty, without risk of neck or limb, of riding a horse or driving a carriage along it. Ireland, as our English readers ought to know, has always been a country teeming with abundance-a happy land, in which want, destitution, sickness, and famine have never been felt or known, except through the mendacious misrepresentations of her enemies. The road we speak of was a proof of this; for it was evident to every observer that, in some season of superabundant food, the people, not knowing exactly how to dispose of their shilling loaves, took to paving the common roads with them, rather than they should be utterly useless. These loaves, in the course of time, underwent the process of petrifaction, but could not, nevertheless, be looked upon as wholly lost to the country. A great number of the Irish, within six of the last preceding years-that is, from '46 to '52-took a peculiar fancy for them as food, which, we presume, caused their enemies to say that we then had hard times in Ireland. Be this as it may, it enabled the sagacious epicures who lived upon them to retire, in due course, to the delightful retreats of Skull and Skibbereen, * and similar asylums, there to pass the very short remainder of their lives in health, ease, and luxury.
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Seller's Description:
Good. 8vo-over 7¾"-9¾" tall brown bds with gilt title to spine. rubbing to bds. bump/fraying to spine ends and corners. partial loss to top front corner. 35mm tear to top spine end. foxing. bindings loosening to pages 128/129.
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Seller's Description:
Fair Plus. Green embossed boards. The corners are frayed. This is the Excelsior Edition and there is no date or edition stated. The second edition was published in 1856. The frontis is missing but the tissue remains, although not attached. Illustrated. 394 pages.
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Seller's Description:
Good. Second edition. 421pp. 4pp. Decorative green cloth stamped in black and gilt. Eight illustrations by T.C. Heath and Thomas Goodman. Owner's gift inscription on front pastedown, pages foxed with small dampstains on a couple pages, gutter cracked, spine cocked, extremities worn and frayed, a good only copy.
