"THE GREATEST ENGLISH NOVELS OF THIS CENTURY": FIRST EDITIONS OF HILARY MANTEL'S WOLF HALL TRILOGY, SIGNED BY THE AUTHOR

MANTEL, Hilary. Wolf Hall. WITH: Bring Up the Bodies. WITH: The Mirror and the Light. London: Fourth Estate, 2009, (2012), (2020). Together, three volumes. Thick octavo, first two in original black cloth, third in original bright blue gilt-stamped cloth, original dust jackets. $5200.

First trade editions of Mantel's acclaimed historical trilogy, each book signed by the author on the title page.

An "arch, elegant, richly detailed biographical novel centered on [Thomas] Cromwell," one of the key architects of Henry VIII's break with Rome, Mantel's Wolf Hall "has epic scale but lyric texture… Mantel can see the understated heroism in the skilled administrator's day-to-day decisions in service of a well-ordered civil society… Wolf Hall is both spellbinding and believable" (New York Times). All three books were bestsellers as well as critically acclaimed, and served as the basis for a BBC series starring Mark Rylance. "With this trilogy, Mantel has redefined what the historical novel is capable of; she has given it muscle and sinew, enlarged its scope, and created a prose style that is lyrical and colloquial, at once faithful to its time and entirely recognisable to us. Taken together, her Cromwell novels are, for my money, the greatest English novels of this century" (Stephanie Merritt, The Guardian). The first two novels each won the prestigious Man Booker Prize, and the final book was longlisted; in the award's history, "no one had won with a sequel, and no one had won so soon after winning the first time" (New York Times). Wolf Hall also issued in a signed limited edition of 26 lettered copies and 100 numbered copies; Bring Up the Bodies also issued in a signed limited edition of 1000 copies; Mirror & the Light also issued in a signed limited edition of 500 copies. Accompanying this set is a leaflet for Mantel's 2014 appearance at Foyles Bookshop (the signature in Wolf Hall is dated from this appearance), and an uncommon Dubray Books promotional bag marking the release of The Mirror & the Light.

Fine copies.