Fielding's Last Novel
Amelia.
London: Printed for A. Millar, in the Strand, 1752 [i.e. 1751].
Price: $900.00
About the item
First edition, second state, with the misprint "the at Folly" corrected to "at the Folly" in vol. III, p. 191. xii, 285, [1], [2, blank]; viii, 262, [2, Universal Register Office ad]; ix, [i], 323, [1]; vii, [i], 296 pp. 4 vols. 12mo. Nineteenth-century half calf and marbled boards, spine labels (detached from vols. I & II), spines darkened. Very good. Rothschild 853.
Item #244363
Fielding's last novel, and a commercial failure. His publisher felt confident that "Amelia" would be as successful as "Tom Jones," and, after an initial printing of 5,000 copies in December 1751 (the largest recorded for any 18th-century novel), ordered a second impression (published January 1752) before the first sold out. Unfortunately, only the first day was a success, and after that sales dropped off drastically.
