Nine volumes, 8vo (149 x 92 mm). Vol. I: 179 pp. Vol. II: 182 pp. Vol. III: (2), 6-202 pp. Vol. IV: 220 pp. Vol. V: (2), 150 pp. Vol. VI: 155 pp. Vol. VII: 160 pp. Vol. VIII: 156 pp. Vol. IX: (4), 145 pp., engraved frontispiece by Hogarth (issued with Vol. III but bound in Vol. IV), Vol. I E5 printed black on both sides; Vol. III with the inserted unsigned leaf, marbled on both sides, between L4 and L5; Vol. VI L2r left blank for the reader's imaginary portrait of Widow Wadman. The frontispiece to Vol. I was only present from the second edition onwards and hence is not present in this first edition. Contemporary uniform full leather, housed in a custom folding case, some very light wear to boards and edges, but overall in good condition, expert restoration to joints, extremities, and labels; vols. V and VI neatly rebacked to style with original labels laid down. Scattered staining to a few volumes and spotting, some light offsetting, otherwise overwhelmingly clean and fresh.

Sterne's other inventive graphic elements of the narrative are all present, including the black page, the tangled lines representing his narrative, and the blank space for the reader to add their own portrait of the beautiful Widow Wadman, “as like your mistress as you can, as unlike your wife as your conscience will let you”.

Probably only 200, and certainly no more than 500 copies of the first volume of Tristram Shandy were printed at York in the first run, which Sterne financed himself. Following the work's runaway success, a second edition was released with a frontispiece by Hogarth, who produced a further frontispiece issued with the first edition of Vol. III (here bound with Vol. IV, as it illustrates a scene there). The demand for Tristram Shandy was such that Sterne introduced the anti-piracy measure of adding his autograph signature in ink to Vols. V, VII and IX, as in our set.

The elegant contemporary binding, in uniform tree-patterned calf, probably dates from its ownership by the Earls of Waldegrave, whose armorial bookplate adorns every volume. The volumes were probably acquired either by John, the Third Earl Waldegrave (1718-1784), or John James, the Sixth Earl Waldegrave (1785-1835) and housed in the family seat of Chewton Mendip Manor prior to its demolition. The Waldegraves were a notable military and political family, with the Second Earl holding the distinction of being possibly the shortest-serving Prime Minister in British History (8-12 June 1757).

A full set of first editions of Tristram Shandy is a nearly unheard-of rarity: Rare Book Hub lists only two complete sets containing some first editions in public sales records in the last century.

The most innovative and enduring English-language novel of the eighteenth century, here in its rarest form.

Provenance:

1) Engraved armorial bookplates of Earl Waldegrave, probably John, Third Earl Waldegrave (1718-84), or John James, Sixth Earl Waldegrave (1785-1835).

2) Their descendants.

3) Peter Harrington, London.

4) European private collection.

Rothschild II, 1970. Cf. Brunet V, 533. Ian Campbell Ross, Laurence Sterne: A Life (Oxford, 2001).