The House of Mirth

First published in 1905, this novel follows Lily Bart, a beautiful, indebted woman of New York's fashionable set who must marry well or fall. She moves through country houses, Monte Carlo, and boarding-rooms, entangled with the lawyer Lawrence Selden, the rich bachelor Percy Gryce, and the financier Gus Trenor. Gossip, gambling debts, and a refusal to use a packet of letters as blackmail steadily narrow her choices. The book is a social novel of the marriage market, not a chronicle of a real family.

Bound in white cloth with a wrap-around illustration in yellow, brown and grey by Holzman. Pale brown endleaves. Cream slipcase.