Adam Bede [Hardcover]

The Clarendon edition ofAdam Bede(1859) is the first critical edition of the work that established George Eliot's reputation. Its extensive textual apparatus lists manuscript and first edition variants from the copy-text, which is the corrected eighth edition of 1861--her last revision of the book. The introduction locates the genesis of the novel in Eliot's family history, her travels, and her reading of literature and biography, and describes the composition process, including her debate with the publisher John Blackwood about the suitability of the subject-matter for a family audience.

Introduction
Descriptive List of Editions
ADAM BEDE
Commentary

[A] superb scholarly edition.... Key to this volume is the 158-page introduction, which is full of erudition, packed with information, and concludes with a descriptive listing of editions ofAdam Bede.... An indispensable purchase for all academic libraries and large public libraries. --Choice