4 volumes, 8vo. 1p. publisher’s advertisements at the end of Vol. I. Publisher’s dark green cloth over beveled boards gilt and stamped in black (partial crack at front hinge on Vol. III, wear to heads and tails of spines, light foxing to page edges), half morocco slipcase (toning, soiling to bottom).

FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE, with vol. I and III lettered in roman numerals and 2 and 4 in Arabic numerals on the spines. Containing 21,000 lines of blank verse, The Ring and the Book employs the most extensive use of dramatic monologue found in any of Browning's works. Sterling 89; Tinker 425; Wise, Browning pp. 27-28.