Beschreibung:

ELIOT, GEORGE [Mary Ann Evans]. The Spanish Gypsy. A Poem. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons 1868. 8vo, original blue cloth, blocked in gilt and blind, spine gilt-lettered, Burn & Co. binder's ticket at inside rear cover, rubbing at extremities, inner hinges cracked, cloth folding case (defective). FIRST EDITION, A RARE PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed by the author on the half-title: "To Mr. Deutsch/With the best wishes of his Friend/George Eliot"; WITH EXTENSIVE HOLOGRAPH CORRECTIONS AND REVISIONS BY GEORGE ELIOT in ink on 60 pages -- a total of about 100 words in her hand, plus spelling and punctuation corrections and deletion markings, etc. The emendations -- in their totality -- appear to be unique to this copy, although the majority were incorporated into the third, and later, English editions. The corrections/revisions range up to the alteration of a line-and-a-half of verse; for example: on p. 278 "Show yourself no more in the Spanish ranks" is changed to "Never more hold command of Spanish men"; on p. 293 the line "By tacit covenant to shield and bless" is inserted; and on p. 139 "You, my child -- do you still need to choose?" is changed to "You, my child -- are you halting and wavering?" Parrish, p. 21. Only three Eliot presentation copies have been traced in the market in the past 20 years. The recipient of this copy, Emmanuel Deutsch (1829-1873, see DNB), Talmudic scholar and orientalist, first became acquainted with George Eliot in 1866 (two years before The Spanish Gypsy was published) and was subsequently a frequent visitor to The Priory. This "bright little man," as Eliot once described him, instructed her in Hebrew and was largely responsible for her developing in Jewish nationalism and the theme of race in general -- an interest which found its expression in the writing of The Spanish Gypsy and, later, Daniel Deronda (Deutsch can be regarded in many ways as the model for Mordecai). Deutsch also influenced Eliot's ideas on the chruch: in particular her notion of the reconciliation of religions and of "one comprehensive church...where the best members of narrower churches may call themselves brother and sister" was largely a result of their intellectual intercourse. Provenance : 1. Jerome Kern, bookplate (sale, Anderson Galleries, 9 January 1929, lot 500, the George Eliot emendations amazingly are not mentioned in the catalogue description)., 2. "Library of the Col. Richard Gimbel Family" (sale, Sotheby's, New York, 18 June 1987, lot 52).