1891 Love Letters of a Violinist and Other Poems buying Eric Mackay Tauchnitz

Known as Eric, Mackay is now mostly remembered as the brother of successful novelist Marie Corelli. Corelli's novels sold more copies than the combined sales of her popular contemporaries including Arthur Conan Doyle, H G Wells and Rudyard Kipling.

Mackay was reliant on his sister's promotion of his works and this helped him achieve a reputation for his Letters of a Violinist. The work sold 35,000 copies. He repaid Corelli's efforts of promoting his literary works by implying that buying he wrote her novels.

This book is from the Tauchnitz 'Collection of British Authors' which started in 1842 and continued for almost a century. This collection eventually comprised of 5370 volumes.

Christian Bernhard Tauchnitz founded his Leipzig publishing firm in 1837 at the age of 20. His specialism was publishing foreign language books, particularly English. He began his firm at a defining period for English literature. Authors such as Dickens and Thackeray were popular and producing a wider range of literature.

Tauchnitz built a good reputation with many leading British and American authors which lead him to be the principal publisher of English Language books in continental Europe from 1840 to 1940. In some instances authors sent Tauchnitz their proofs in order for them to be published at the same time as the British publisher, or in some cases before. In nineteenth century Britain, an author's work could be published by several different publishing houses leading to the production of their novels in a variety of formats. By Tauchnitz owning the publishing rights to nearly all the leading British authors for the first time there was a consistent format. Condition Report: In a limp morocco binding with the title gilt stamped to the front board. Externally, generally smart with a small amount of rubbing to the extremities and the head and tail of the spine. Internally, firmly bound. Pages are bright with scattered spots to the endpapers with the odd spot throughout. Overall: Very Good