Forest and Game-Law Tales by Harriet Martineau first edition set 1845-46

MARTINEAU, Harriet (1802-1876). Forest and Game-Law Tales. In Three Volumes. London: Edward Moxon, Dover Street, 1845-1846.

First edition. Three volumes. Vol. I: ix, 252 pp.; Vol. II: vii, 301 pp., followed by one page of advertisements; Vol. III: iv, 259 pp. Original publisher's brown cloth, boards decorated in blind, spines elaborately decorated and lettered in gilt. Original yellow endpapers retained. Armorial bookplates of W. T. R. Powell and Christopher Freville Huntley in each volume, with a pink bookseller's ticket of J. Field, Regent Quadrant, London, in one volume. Spines slightly faded; corners and extremities bumped and rubbed, with a few corner tips worn. An attractive very good set, retaining its original bindings and endpapers, without repair or restoration.

A collection of eight tales examining the history and social consequences of the forest and game laws, using fiction to expose the hardship caused by the preservation of game and restrictions on its taking. The stories range from "Merdhin" and "The Manor and the Eyrie" to "Gentle and Simple", which occupies the third volume.

Martineau wrote the work in the autumn of 1845, drawing upon historical research and parliamentary evidence supplied by John Bright. In her autobiography she explained that her purpose was to reveal the damage inflicted by the game laws upon farmers and food production, and to encourage reform. Although disappointed by its financial return, she valued its influence in opening readers' eyes to the human cost of preserving sport for the privileged.

From the libraries of William Thomas Rowland Powell of Nanteos, landowner and MP for Cardiganshire, and the book collector Christopher Freville Huntley. A rare complete first edition set in the original publisher's decorative cloth.