DU MAURIER, George

Trilby

London: Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., 1894. Item #06547

“Svengali” Enters the English Language
The First London Edition of Trilby

DU MAURIER, George. Trilby. London: Osgood, McIlvaine & Co., 1894.

First London edition. Three octavo volumes (6 3/4 x 4 5/8 inches; 171 x 118 mm.). [iv], 245, [1]; [iv], 258, [1], [1, blank]; [iv], 181, [1] pp.

Handsomely bound ca. 1950 by Bayntun of Bath in full blue polished calf. Covers ruled in gilt, spines with five raised bands, decoratively tooled and lettered in gilt in compartments with contrasting red and green morocco labels. Gilt board edges and turn-ins, blue marbled endpapers.

A very fine set, housed in a fleece-lined blue cloth slipcase.

Before Dracula, before Dorian Gray had fully settled into legend, there was Trilby - a novel that swept through the English-speaking world with astonishing force and left behind a word we still use today: “Svengali.”

Published at the height of the 1890s fin-de-siècle moment, Trilby captured the imagination of Victorian readers with its intoxicating blend of Parisian bohemia, romance, and psychological control. Du Maurier’s sinister Svengali - part hypnotist, part impresario - became an instant archetype, his name entering the language as shorthand for domination and manipulation. The phenomenon was immediate: stage adaptations, merchandise, and even fashion trends followed in what contemporary observers dubbed “Trilby mania.”

The first London edition, issued in the traditional three-volume format, remains the most desirable form of the text, preceding the rapid proliferation of single-volume and illustrated editions that followed its success.

A beautifully preserved and elegantly bound example of a novel that left a lasting imprint on both literature and language.

Price: $1,250.00