Ellis - Family Secrets - 1841

UNCONFESSABLE SECRETS: VICTORIAN INTIMACY LAID BARE
Elegant narrative-moral work of Victorian England, Family Secrets fully fits into mid-nineteenth-century educational and domestic literature, aimed at a bourgeois and family audience. Published in several volumes and enriched by engravings, the work offers a narrative reflection on family relationships, moral duties, and domestic harmony, according to a sensibility deeply rooted in the era's social values. The title’s editorial success is evidenced by its spread in decorative library-binding, conceived not only for reading but also for a stable presence in the home library.
MARKET VALUE
Victorian narrative and moral works published by Fisher, Son & Co., especially when complete in multiple volumes with an illustrative apparatus, maintain a steady presence on the international antiquarian market. An example set in 3 volumes of Family Secrets, in contemporary decorated bindings and overall good condition, carries an indicative estimate between 350 and 550 euros overall, varying according to binding condition, the freshness of the engravings, and the uniformity of the whole.

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION AND CONDITION
Three-volume work. Contemporary bindings with hard covers, gold-impressed cloth boards, ornate and titled spines. Gilded edges. Presence of plates engraved out of text. Papers with yellowing and foxing; signs of wear to the bindings, particularly at the margins and on the headcaps. As with all old books, with a multi-century history, a few imperfections not always noted in the description may be present. Pp.:
(4); 10nn; 328; 14; 2nn; (4).
(4); 6nn; 312; 14; 2nn; (4).
(4); 6nn; 308; 14; 2nn; (4).

FULL TITLE AND AUTHOR
Family Secrets; or, Hints to Those Who Would Make Home Happy.
London, Fisher, Son, & Co., 1841.
Sarah Stickney Ellis.

CONTEXT AND SIGNIFICANCE
Sarah Stickney Ellis was one of the most influential voices in female moral literature in Victorian England. In Family Secrets, the author develops a narrative aimed at educating through example, using the form of a tale to transmit models of conduct, family balance, and individual responsibility. The work fully reflects the ideal of the “separate sphere,” in which the home becomes the ethical and affective center of society, and today constitutes a valuable source for the study of domestic culture, moral pedagogy, and the social history of the nineteenth century.

PRINTING HISTORY AND CIRCULATION
Fisher, Son & Co. was one of London’s leading publishers specializing in finely illustrated volumes for the bourgeois market. The multi-volume editions, often rebound in decorative bindings, were designed as books for gift-giving and for the domestic library. Family Secrets enjoyed wide diffusion and multiple reprints, a sign of lasting success among Victorian readers.

BIBLIOGRAPHY AND REFERENCES
British Library, catalog Fischer, Son & Co.
WorldCat, record for Family Secrets, Fisher Son & Co. editions
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, entry on Sarah Stickney Ellis
Studies on Victorian moral literature and nineteenth-century domestic fiction