A fascinating collection of contemporary reaction to the works of Nineteenth Century novelists; the author’s criticized include M.E. Braddon (British Review 1865), Wilke Collins, Maria Edgeworth (Quarterly Review 1814), Jane Eyre (North British Review 1849 - along with two other novels) and many, many more. The volume also contains articles about novelists of the Eighteenth Century, including Sterne, Richardson and Jane Austen (St. Paul’s, March 1870). There is always the sense of a debate about by what standards novels should be judged, and what purpose the novel serves within society (‘What Girl’s Read’, Nineteenth Century 1886).

In total there are approximately 40 articles in the volume. Where the date, or place of publication of an article are not evident this information is written by hand at the beginning. The dates of the articles range from 1786 to about 1890, with the vast majority from about 1850 to 1885.

Some of the articles are foxed and a few have been folded to make them fit neatly in the book, but the volume is legible throughout.

Bound in blue cloth (22x13.5cm), lettered in gilt on the spine; ‘Novels and Novelists/ Magazine Articles/ I’. The binding rubbed, but solid, with some wear at the top and bottom of the spine. Inside the front cover the bookplate of John Waern Hill.