Autobiography.
London: Longmans, Green, Reader, and Dyer, 1873. First edition, first issue, with the advertising leaf and no errata. Minor shelfwear. Brown coated endpapers. Later pencil ownership signature (Lauren Buchanan) to preliminary blank and some pencil marginalia on a few pages. Some marginal toning, but still quite crisp and fresh. A very good, tight copy of a notoriously fragile book. Original green cloth ruled in blind with gilt lettering on spine. Octavo. vi, 313, [2, ads] pp. Item #16968
One of the most famous autobiographies ever, the present work “excited universal astonishment” (Printing and the Mind of Man, 345n). Mill devotes most of the work to the first thirty-five years of his life; the final chapter covers the years 1840 to 1870. He records his education by his famous father — learning Greek at the age of three, reading Plato at eight, and Aristotle at twelve — and details the numerous literary works that shaped his thinking throughout his life.
Price: $375.00