Eliot, George | The first work published with Eliot's identity revealed

Property from an Important American Collection

Eliot, George

The Mill on the Floss. Edinburgh and London: William Blackwood and Sons, 1860

3 volumes, 8vo. Half-titles, no inserted preliminary advertisement in volume I, final blank Z6 present in volume I, 16-page publisher's catalogue at end of volume III, blind stamp to prelims of volume I of W.H. Smith & Son, bookplate to pastedown of volume III; light foxing, primarily to volumes I and II. Publisher's cinnamon ripple-grain cloth by Edmonds & Remnants; extremities bumped, occasional spots of soiling to covers, primarily to volume III and its spine (volume III appears to be from a separate set). Collector's quarter morocco clamshell box.

First edition, a fine copy.

George Eliot had come under increasing pressure to reveal her identity following the publication of Adam Bede in 1859. In light of a pretender attempting to claim themselves as George Eliot, she came forward as the author. Her relationship with George Henry Lewis shocked society, but neither this nor her true identity as a woman affected her immense popularity as a novelist. The Mill on the Floss was published with a year of completing Adam Bede, her first work published with her identity being known. It was dedicated "To my beloved husband, George Henry Lewes, I give this MS. of my third book, written in the sixth year of our life together, at Holly Lodge, South Field, Wandsworth, and finished 21 March 1860." 

The Mill on the Floss delicately presents the intricacies of sibling relations in the context of varied powerful external forces, with Tom and Maggie Tulliver mirroring Eliot's own difficult relationship with her brother.

On the title, which came from the suggestion of her UK publisher, Eliot remarked; “the Mill is not strictly on the Floss, being on its small tributary, and … the title is of rather laborious utterance” (Letters, III, p.240).

REFERENCE:

Baker & Ross A.5.1.a1; Carter, pp.110-111; Sadleir 816a; Wolff 2060