1898 Scarce Victorian Fantasy Book - Lilith: A Romance by George MacDonald

Author: George MacDonald. 
Title: Lilith: A Romance.
Publisher: New York, Dodd, Mead and Company, 1898. Early American Edition.
Language: Text in English.
Size: 7.5" x 5".
Pagination: vi, 351 pages.
Binding: Very good to near fine publisher's olive-green cloth binding lettered in gilt and decorated in silver, with the publisher's distinctive spear motif to the spine and decorative ruled borders to the front cover. Binding remains exceptionally well-preserved with only light signs of age and handling. Upper edge gilt. A particularly handsome example of this increasingly scarce edition, protected in a removable mylar cover.
Content: Near fine content. Portrait frontispiece of the author present. Pages remarkably fresh, clean, and bright throughout with only occasional minor signs of age. A beautiful and well-preserved copy.

Estimate: (USD 650–700)

The book: One of the great masterpieces of Victorian fantasy literature, Lilith stands as George MacDonald's most profound, enigmatic, and spiritually ambitious work. First published in 1895, the novel follows the young scholar Mr. Vane, who discovers a mysterious gateway leading into a dreamlike parallel world inhabited by spectral children, strange beasts, prophetic figures, and the legendary Lilith herself. Blending fantasy, theology, mythology, and metaphysical speculation, MacDonald created a work that resists simple interpretation and continues to fascinate readers more than a century after its publication.

Often compared to the visionary writings of William Blake and later fantasy classics by C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien, Lilith explores themes of death, redemption, sacrifice, free will, and spiritual transformation. Its haunting imagery and symbolic narrative have secured its reputation as one of the foundational texts of modern fantasy.

The author: George MacDonald (1824–1905) was a Scottish novelist, poet, minister, and one of the most influential figures in the history of fantasy literature. Admired by writers such as C. S. Lewis, J. R. R. Tolkien, G. K. Chesterton, and Madeleine L'Engle, MacDonald helped establish fantasy as a serious literary form capable of addressing profound spiritual and philosophical questions. His enduring works, including Phantastes, The Princess and the Goblin, and Lilith, remain cornerstones of the genre and continue to inspire readers and writers alike.

A particularly attractive and increasingly difficult-to-find early American edition of MacDonald's visionary masterpiece.