WORLD'S END. A STORY IN THREE BOOKS.

London : Tinsley Brothers, 1877. First edition : in the primary binding. "The leading idea in the tale is this: at Birmingham there is an immense property without an owner, and two years ago over 100 claimants from America and other countries held a family council there ... Something similar (under different names of localities etc.) forms the nucleus of my novel which shows how this vast property influences the lives of many people" (Jefferies in a letter of July 1876). His rare third novel, intended to appeal to lovers of the sensational in the style of Wilkie Collins - "He certainly succeeds in seizing on his reader's attention from the first start, and his story, with all its faults, is never for a moment dull or trivial" (The Graphic, 25th August 1877). Three volumes. Crown 8vo (20cm). [iv],(250),[ii]; [iv],278; [iv],(290)pp. Original dove-grey cloth, lettered in gilt, and ruled and blocked in black and gilt; spines a little darkened; a little rubbed; some slight splash-marks and faint spots; two endpapers a little cracked; a little shaken in places; a few minor internal marks and small flaws, but overall a good set of a notable rarity - ranked by Sadleir as the scarcest of all Jefferies' novels.