THE CLAVERINGS

London: Smith, Elder and Co., 1867. 2 volumes. First edition and first printing other then when serialized in Cornhill Magazine. Illustrated with sixteen wood-engraved plates after M. Ellen Edwards, two of which are frontispieces. Tall 8vos, in the publisher's original handsome Victorian decorated cloth, this is scarcer of the two variants noted by Sadleir, with the decoration in gilt and black as opposed to gilt and blind. Sadleir notes, "I do not know which style is earlier, but would, on general principles, incline to favour that with the additional black-blocking..." The volumes are gilt and black decorated and elaborately lettered on the upper covers and spines in a stylized arabesque motif, the rear covers decorated in blind only, both volumes with original brown endpapers. The volumes now housed in two matching slipcases, each with a morocco labeled chemise gilt lettered. [ii], 313, [2 ads]; [ii], 309, [2 ads] pp. An exceptional set, very beautifully preserved, the paper fresh and bright with just a meager hint of spotting at the prelims only, the cloth vivid and clean with bright gilt and black decoration on dark unfaded green, only a touch of bumping to the extremities nearly not worth mentioning. A VERY SCARCE TROLLOPE OFFERING, IN THE BEST AND RARER BINDING AND IN UNMATCHED CONDITION. The Sadleir-Martin copy was also in this rarer binding and may well be the last copy comparable with ours to have appeared in auction, and that sale was nearly thirty years ago.
THE CLAVERINGS is one of what Sadleir described as one of Trollope's five technically faultless books, "there is not a loose end, not a patch of drowsiness, not a moment of false proportion." More recent critics regard the book even more highly, such as David Skilton, who wrote that "it has been usual to pronounce it among the most perfect and attractive productions of the novelist's pen."
The novel is the story of a young man starting out in life, who must find himself a profession and a wife; and of a young woman who made a marriage of convenience and must abide the consequences. It was very popular upon publication but then went through a period of being nearly forgotten prior to being rediscovered in the later 20th century. The sheer volume of Trollope's productions in the years shortly after may have simply overwhelmed his readers.