Enoch Arden

New York, NY: E. P. Dutton & Company. Very Good. 1888. Trade Edition. Hardcover. B&W Illustrations; This is an oversized book (folio sized) (9.5" x 10.5 ") The book is in Very Good condition and is lacking a dust jacket. The book covers are decorated with silver, gilt, black and green in the shape of waves, a bird and blossoms. The spine ends and corners of the book covers have edge wear, rubbing and beginning fraying. The cover edges are beveled. The text pages are clean and bright. The endpapers are illustrated in a green and black leaf motif. There is a previous owner's inked gift notation on the half title page. Several of the gathers are a bit loose. The drawings are by Edmund H. Garrett and Chas Copeland, with engraving and printing under the supervision of George T. Andrew. "The story could be considered a variation on and antithesis to the classical myth of Odysseus, who, after an absence of 20 years at the Trojan War and at sea, found a faithful wife who had been loyally waiting for him. The use of the name Enoch for a man who disappears from the lives of his loved ones is surely inspired by the biblical character Enoch. In fact, also the entire chronological structure of the protagonist's life with its cycles related to the biblical symbolism of the "days of Creation" binds to the name of Enoch, as demonstrated by the analysis of an Italian thinker long interested in this work, and denotes Tennyson's ability to insert theological intentions into simple elegiac mode with an unprecedented complexity in English literature." (From Wikipedia) .