Lavengro : classic of 19th century literature.

A classic of 19th century literature: "There are passages in Lavengro which are unsurpassed in the prose literature of England" (Theodore Watts).

George Henry BORROW (1803-1881). Lavengro; the scholar - the gypsy - the priest. London; John Murray, 1851. 3 volumes, large 12mo (7 3/8 x 4 5/8in; 187 x 117mm). Engraved portrait frontispiece. (Lacking the half-titles to vols. II and III, some toning). Later half-morocoo over marbled paper-covered boards, spines in six compartments with raised bands, lettered in the second and fourth, the others with repeat decoration in gilt, marbled endpapers, marbled edges (extremities scuffed and rubbed). Provenance: Richard John Hone (armorial bookplate in each voume).

First edition: which was limited to just 3000 copies. "There are passages in Lavengro which are unsurpassed in the prose literature of England" (Theodore Watts). ‘Falling somewhere between the genres of memoir and novel, Lavengro has long been considered a classic of 19th-century English literature. According to the author lav-engro is a Romany word meaning "word master". The historian G.M. Trevelyan called this "a book that breathes the spirit of that period of strong and eccentric characters".

Its protagonist, whose name is never mentioned, is born the son of an officer in a militia regiment and is brought up in various barrack towns in England, Scotland and Ireland. After serving an apprenticeship to a lawyer he moves to London and becomes a Grub Street hack, an occupation which gives him ample opportunities to observe London low-life. Finally he takes to the road as a tinker. At various points through the book he associates with Romany travellers, of whom he gives memorable and generally sympathetic pen-portraits.’ (https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/733594.Lavengro).