London: Macmillan and Co., Limited, 1910. Third reprint of the celebrated Hugh Thomson edition, and an especially bright, richly gilt example of one of Macmillan’s most admired Art Nouveau bindings. Thomson’s pictorial design — the elegant 18th-century figure beneath a flowering tree, framed in dense gilt and paired with his lavish floral spine — remains wonderfully sharp on this copy, the gilt retaining an uncommon warmth and clarity.
Thomson’s work here belongs firmly to the same decorative world as his masterwork for Macmillan, the 1894 “Peacock Edition” of Jane Austen’s Pride and Prejudice. The kinship is unmistakable: opulent gilt, theatrical Regency costume, and a delight in ornamental detail that defined Macmillan’s gift-book aesthetic. For many collectors, Evelina serves as the natural companion to the Peacock Edition — not only for Thomson’s style, but because Burney was one of Austen’s strongest early influences.
Internally, the crisp impression of Thomson’s full-page plates and numerous in-text illustrations remains a strength of this copy. The front pastedown carries a neatly completed Uxbridge County School prize label dated 1913, adding period character without compromising the book’s presentation. Endpapers show the usual toning; the text itself is clean, with the paper retaining its even, gentle tone.
A distinctively well-preserved printing of Thomson’s Evelina, notable for the exceptional condition of its gilt binding and its strong connection to the decorative tradition of the Austen Peacock Edition.
