F. Burney - Cecilia - 1882-1882

Frances Burney – Cecilia, or Memoirs of an Heiress – 2 volumes – George Bell & Sons – 1882
Complete two-volume Victorian edition of Cecilia; or, Memoirs of an Heiress by Frances (Fanny) Burney (1752–1840), with a foreword and notes by Annie Raine Ellis.
Published in London by George Bell and Sons, York Street, Covent Garden, in 1882, as part of Bohn's Novelist's Library.
Cecilia originally appeared in 1782 and is among the principal novels of Frances Burney. The work is a substantial novel of manners in which Burney examines social conventions, class differences, marriage, wealth and the position of women in English society. The novel later influenced the development of the English novel.
Bibliographic data
Author: Frances Burney (Fanny Burney)
Title: Cecilia; or, Memoirs of an Heiress
Foreword and notes: Annie Raine Ellis
Publisher: George Bell and Sons
Place: London, York Street, Covent Garden
Year: 1882
Series: Bohn's Novelist's Library
Language: English
Edition: 2 volumes – complete
Print: Victorian 1882 edition by George Bell & Sons
Both volumes are bound in matching dark blue linen bindings with rich blind-stamped, ornamental decorations on the front and back boards. The spines are also blind-stamped and feature gilt lettering with CECILIA – VOL. I / VOL. II – F. BURNEY – NOVELISTS LIBRARY.
A particularly attractive detail is the central blind stamp on the boards with the motto “Deo non Fortuna,” characteristic of the design of Bohn's Library editions.
The title pages clearly state 1882.
Together the two volumes form the complete edition.
Condition
Antiquarian condition suitable for a book set of about 144 years old.
The original blue linen bindings are still attractive and the extensive blind-stamping is clearly visible. The gold lettering on the spines is largely preserved. There is clear use and edge wear, especially at the head and tail of the spines and at the corners.
The paper shows age browning and local foxing/spots. On the flyleaves there are old handwritten ownership/origin notes. The photographs are part of the condition description.
Volume I ends on page 445 and at the bottom of the last page bears the printer's imprint of Chiswick Press, Charles Whittingham and Co., Tooke’s Court, Chancery Lane.
An attractive and complete 19th-century two-volume set by an important female author in the history of English literature.