London: George Routledge and Sons, 1874. First UK edition. Finely bound by Zaehnsdorf in full brown morocco with double gilt rules on the boards and spine compartments. Top edges gilt, marbled end papers. A Fine copy, complete with all half-titles. Clean and fresh throughout. A few leaves in volume 3 a little bent at the lower margin. Otherwise an exceptional copy inside and out.

"The Gilded Age, a period of gross materialism and blatant political corruption in US history during the 1870s, gave rise to important novels of social and political criticism. The period takes its name from the earliest of these, The Gilded Age, written by Mark Twain in collaboration with Charles Dudley Warner. The novel gives a vivid and accurate description of Washington, DC and is peopled with caricatures of many leading figures of the day, including greedy industrialists and corrupt politicians" (Britannica). Among these notable "robber barons" were, recognizably, John D. Rockefeller, Andrew Carnegie, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and J.P. Morgan. Fine (Item #7227)