The Portrait of a Lady

Re-issue. 8vo. 661pp. Teal cloth-boards, lettered in cream to spine. Jacket design by Peter Feierabend, featuring an illustration of Székely Bertalan's Portrait of Miss Mesterházy, 1870. Volume editor: Richard Aczel. Series editor: Michael Hulse. Given here in its original 1881 form, issued by Macmillan in 750 three-volume sets, most destined for circulating libraries, the present edition contains an extensive selection of James's revisions for the so-called New York edition of 1908.

Considered by many as the author's masterpiece, The Portrait of a Lady is the compelling story of the bright and attractive Isabel Acher, who sets out in pursuit of life and liberty, only to find herself trapped in the cage of a loveless marriage – "ground in the very mill of convention," as James put it in his Notebooks.

[Edel and Laurence A16(a); Connolly, The Modern Movement, 1]