8vo, 3 volumes, FIRST EDITION, with 24pp. of advertisements at end of volume 3 dated April 1881, brown endpapers, publisher's dark blue-green cloth, covers blocked in black, spine with gilt lettering and publisher's device, preserved in blue cloth cases and matching quarter blue morocco folding box, hinges partially cracked and previously repaired, slight browning and spotting, slight bubbling to cloth of volume 2, residues of labels on upper covers, some wear to extremities of binding

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

Condition is described in the main body of the cataloguing, when appropriate.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF BUSINESS PRINTED IN THE SALE CATALOGUE."

FIRST EDITION IN CLOTH OF JAMES'S CLASSIC NOVEL, THE MOST POPULAR OF ALL HIS LONGER FICTIONS.

"Trying to recover here, for recognition, the germ of my idea, I see that it m𒐪ust have consisted not at all in any conceit of a 'plot'... but altogether in the sense of a single character, the character and aspect of a particular engaging young woman, to which all the usual elements of a 'subject', certꩵainly of a setting, were to need to be super added" (James, Preface to the New York edition of the novel, 1907)

The Portrait of a Lady  appeared serially in Macmillan's Magazine and Atlantic Monthly from October 1880. The book followed in November 1881 with a first impression of 750 copies issued in two variant colours of cloth (no precedence has been e𒊎stablished between the two). Most copies were issued with advertisements dated December 1881 but some, including this copy, have an earlier set, "probably inserted through error or through shortage at the bindery of the more contemporary catalogue" (Edel and Laurence).