8vo. In three volumes. x, 421, [1]; [4], 406, [2]; [4], 451pp, [1]. With an engraved armorial plate. Original publisher's blind-stamped cloth, lettered in gilt. A trifle rubbed and marked. Upper hinge of Vol. I exposed, armorial bookplates of Arthur Shepherd to all FEPs, recent bookplate of robert J. Hayhurst to FFEP of Vol. I.

A revised edition of British barrister Samuel Warren's (1807-1877) second novel, initially serialised in Blackwood's Magazine from 1839 to 1841. An immediate best-seller, the novel was one of the earliest narratives concerned with the legal system, and is said to have influenced Dickens, who appears to have borrowed numerous images and ideas, particularly for Bleak House (1852-53). In spite of the negative reaction of Edgar Allan Poe, who called in 'shamefully ill-written' (Graham's Magazine, November, 1841), the book was a sensational commercial success, with new print runs and updated editions published regularly to the turn of the century.