Antique 1887 George Eliot’s Works 12-Volume Handy Volume Edition Set – Estes & Lauriat Boston – Half Leather & Marbled Boards
Offered here is a substantial and visually appealing 12-volume antique set of George Eliot’s Works, published by Estes and Lauriat of Boston and attributable to the 1887 Handy Volume Edition. Bibliographic records confirm the Handy Volume Edition under Estes and Lauriat in 1887, and surviving market examples show this was issued as a decorative illustrated multi-volume Victorian library set.
This set contains the titles shown across the spines and interiors, including Middlemarch, Romola, Daniel Deronda, Adam Bede, The Mill on the Floss, Felix Holt, Clerical Life, Complete Poems, and essays/miscellaneous writings. For collectors of 19th-century English literature, it offers the combination buyers want: a major author, a period publisher, decorative half-leather bindings, and authentic age.
After decades in this business, we can say these late 19th-century library sets still have a strong following because they work on multiple levels: they are collectible, they are highly displayable, and they bring real period character that later reproductions simply do not have.
Condition report:
This is a complete but worn antique set. Bindings show heavy shelf and handling wear, including rubbing, chipping, leather loss, and significant wear at corners, spine ends, and joints. Several spines/joints are separated, lifting, or partially detached. Marbled boards show scuffing and edge wear. Interiors are age toned, with some waviness and scattered staining visible in places. Seller notes several pages have pencil drawings/marks. In our opinion, this set falls into fair to acceptable antique condition overall: not a pristine collector’s set, but a legitimate late-Victorian grouping with strong decorative presence and restoration potential.
Why we like it:
The market for complete George Eliot sets is condition-sensitive. Better complete examples can bring considerably more, while incomplete or compromised groups sell for less; this set lands in the desirable middle ground of being complete, attractive, and honestly worn. Comparable references show the spread clearly, from modest auction results for lesser groups to stronger retail asking prices and auction outcomes for better-preserved complete sets.