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2 volumes. (2), [i-iii], iv-xx, 203; (4), [1]-208 pp. With half titles and list of subscribers at front of Volume I. (8vo) 15.5x9.5 cm (6x3¾") later full red morocco, gilt-rule border, spines gilt, gilt dentelles, all edges gilt. Bound by Johanna Birkenruth. First Edition. 

Sterne died just three weeks after publication. Following Tristam Shandy, A Sentimental Journey Through France and Italy was Sterne’s most-popular work. “The book was no doubt based on Sterne’s two journey’s abroad in 1762-4 and 1765. It was well received by the public…and is probably the first English novel to survive in the handwriting of its author” (Oxford Companion to English Literature, 885). Volume I in second state, p. 150 reading “vous.” Volume II in first state, p. 133 reading “who have.” Rothschild 1971. Lowndes 2509. Grolier English Hundred 54. Bookplates of Herbert S. Leon.