Description

RARE PRESENTATION COPY OF SHE, INSCRIBED BY H. RIDER HAGGARD
TO THE CURATOR OF THE ASHMOLEAN MUSEUM

HAGGARD, Henry Rider. She. A History of Adventure. London: Longmans, Green, 1887. Octavo, early 20th-century three-quarter navy morocco gilt, raised bands, marbled boards and endpapers. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box.

Rare first English edition, presentation copy, of one of Haggard’s best adventure novels, with two color plates, inscribed to the curator of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford: “Dr. Evans from H. Rider Haggard. 29 Dec 1886.”

“King Solomon’s Mines and She are by far Haggard’s most remarkable works. In these he showed his gifts at their finest, surest, and strongest? They show astonishing imaginative vigor and a power of constructing a world which, although it may be impossible, is nevertheless credible. Their principal quality, however, is their remarkable zest in narrative” (DNB). The female protagonist of this novel, Ayesha, was cited in Freud’s The Interpretation of Dreams and also by Jung as a female prototype. The first edition was published in the United States in 1886. CBEL III:547. The recipient of this copy was Sir Arthur John Evans, who served as curator of the Ashmolean Museum at Oxford between 1884 and 1908. Haggard and Evans were both deeply involved in ancient archaeology and Haggard probably contacted the Ashmolean Museum for research purposes, as it housed one of the finest Egyptology collections in Britain at the time.

Minor foxing to preliminaries including inscription page, a few faint stains to text, slightest rubbing to binding. A near-fine copy, quite rare inscribed.