The Monk : a Romance. In three volumes verbatim from the first edition.

LEWIS, MATTHEW GREGORY 'MONK',

Published by London Benbow, 1822

About this Item

3 volumes, 12mo, bound in contemporary half red roan calf, spines gilt with raised bands, rubbed and worn with some short cracking of joints, chip to head of one spline, internally with an occasional spot or stain but generally clean, FIRST BENBOW EDITION; the exact status of this edition is not clear, as there were two distinct issues of the first ediiton of 1796; perhaps the disreputable Benbow, cashing in on the reputation of a book published long before, is drawing attention to its unrevised text, perhaps a text that its late author had sought to suppress. In any case this is a rare edition of this Gothic melodrama, not listed by Summers, but known to St Clair ['not pornographic but not fully respectable' - listed in Benbow publications]. Considering the rather poor printing characteristic of Benbow the somewhat rough condition of this copy is to be expected, this set being in original unsophisticated state, a leaf from a completely different book oddly inserted at the end of volume two. Seller Inventory # 30248

Bibliographic Details

Title: The Monk : a Romance. In three volumes ...

Publisher: London Benbow

Publication Date: 1822

Binding: Hardcover

Edition: 1st Edition