The History of Henry Esmond

First published in 1852, this memoir novel is told by Henry Esmond, who grows up as a supposed illegitimate kinsman at Castlewood in the reigns of William III and Anne. He serves in the wars in the Low Countries, loves the Castlewood women Rachel and her daughter Beatrix, and is drawn into Jacobite intrigue around the Stuart claim. The narrative imitates eighteenth-century prose and treats honor, legitimacy, and political loyalty. The book is a historical novel of the English succession, not a biography of a real Esmond.

Quarter bound in dark blue leather with blue buckram boards. No dust-jacket. (First of the FS's annual 'Presentation Volumes').