Belinda. Illustrated by Chris Hammond. London: Macmillan, 1896. First Edition Thus. Pp xix, 484. Publisher’s dark green cloth, richly decorated & lettered in gilt, with ‘peacock’ endpapers. A fine bright copy.

Lovely gift edition with many drawings throughout the text.

First published in three volumes by Joseph Johnson of London. The novel was Edgeworth’s second published, and was considered controversial in its day for its depiction of an interracial marriage.

Chris Hammond (1860-1900) was one of the most productive illustrators of the 1890s. Best known as an interpreter of classic fiction, she embellished texts by Jane Austen, Maria Edgeworth, W. M. Thackeray, George Eliot and a number of others.