Ralph the Heir

First published in 1871, this novel concerns the inheritance of Newton Priory in Hampshire. Squire Gregory Newton prefers his illegitimate son Ralph to the legitimate but spendthrift nephew also named Ralph, and he tries to buy the estate's future with money and a marriage. Underplots follow a corrupt parliamentary election at Percycross, the West Indian niece Mary Bonner, and the bootmaker Ontario Moggs, who stands as a Radical. The legal and moral question is whether blood, purchase, or character should take the land. The book is a property-and-politics novel of Trollope's later manner, not a Barsetshire chronicle and not a detective story.

Quarter bound in blue series binding, pale blue paper boards with the border in dark blue. Pale blue endleaves. Blue slipcase.