{"product_id":"the-eulogy-of-richard-jefferies-walter-besant-1st-edition","title":"The Eulogy of Richard Jefferies, Walter Besant — 1st Edition","description":"\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003ePublication\u003c\/strong\u003e: London, Chatto \u0026amp; Windus, Piccadilly, 1888\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eFormatting\u003c\/strong\u003e: 8vo, pp. [viii], 384.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCondition Report\u003c\/strong\u003e: Good. The original dark blue cloth binding remains structurally intact but displays definitive signs of age and shelf-wear. The spine is noticeably rubbed along the joints, with fraying and slight loss to the cloth at both the head and tail. The boards exhibit minor scuffing, and the corners are gently bumped and worn. Internally, the binding remains firm, though the hinges show minor signs of strain. The page edges are markedly tanned and uncut, characteristic of the period. The text block itself is generally clean with occasional, scattered foxing primarily relegated to the preliminary leaves and text block edges. The tissue guard protecting the frontispiece portrait remains intact.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003e\u003cstrong\u003eCatalogue Note\u003c\/strong\u003e: This 1888 first edition is presented in the publisher's original dark blue cloth, featuring a blind-stamped 'C\u0026amp;W' monogram on the front board, blind-stamped borders, and gilt titling to the spine. The volume includes the stated frontispiece portrait of Richard Jefferies and features a philosophical epigraph from Henry David Thoreau on the title page. Provenance features an early ink ownership signature (\"S.W. Hamilton, 1889\") on the front free endpaper, alongside a contemporary bookseller's ticket for \"J. W. Compston, Levenshulme\" affixed to the front paste-down endpaper. As a primary biographical text published shortly after Jefferies's death, this first edition remains moderately accessible on the open market but is becoming increasingly uncommon in its unrestored, original state.\u003c\/p\u003e\n\u003cp\u003ePublished just a year after the premature passing of the celebrated English nature writer Richard Jefferies, Walter Besant's \u003ci\u003eThe Eulogy of Richard Jefferies\u003c\/i\u003e stands as the first major biographical assessment of his life and work. Besant, a highly successful novelist and contemporary, passionately championed Jefferies's literary genius at a time when he remained largely underappreciated by the broader public. Rather than a purely objective history, Besant's work is a heartfelt appreciation, a true eulogy, that helped cement Jefferies’s lasting legacy as a masterful chronicler of rural England and a profound mystical thinker whose writings would heavily influence subsequent generations of naturalists.\u003c\/p\u003e","brand":"Broadhursts Books","offers":[{"title":"Default Title","offer_id":54494173921619,"sku":"4898","price":55.0,"currency_code":"GBP","in_stock":true}],"thumbnail_url":"\/\/cdn.shopify.com\/s\/files\/1\/0960\/1469\/6787\/files\/20260730_224853.jpg?v=1785927662","url":"https:\/\/broadhurstsbooks.com\/products\/the-eulogy-of-richard-jefferies-walter-besant-1st-edition","provider":"Broadhursts Books","version":"1.0","type":"link"}