Folio Archives 260: The Europeans by Henry James 1982

The Europeans by Henry James 1982

This delightful, gentle book describes the experiences of an aristocratic brother and sister who return from Europe, where they had lived since childhood, to visit long lost cousins in Boston. Set in the last quarter of the 19th. century, the novel follows the intricate social dance and intricacies of etiquette that arose between cousins raised in very different cultures. The different characters are beautifully portrayed, as are the complex social mores of New England society at that time.

Despite its wit, gaiety, romances, intrigues and "clear sunlit charm", this masterly short novel one of Henry James’ less well known novels.

The 192 page book has an eleven page introduction by Gilbert Phelps and nine plates of two-colour drawings by Robin Jacques. It is bound in grey and white striped cloth with a wrap-around cover design in dark and light green by Sally Lou Smith. The endleaves are pale yellow-brown flecked and the cream textured slipcase is 23.6x15.2cm. The top page edges are stained cream and the spine title runs from bottom to top.

















































An index of the other illustrated reviews in the "Folio Archives" series can be viewed here.

>1 wcarter: Thanks for sharing another hidden gem. Glad you made it through the deluge!

I find Henry James unreadable. Page-long paragraphs that, when analysed, say nothing. I get the impression he is only hailed as a great because the American critics haven't enough American authors on the list.

>4 InVitrio:
He bores me too, but I don't think you can lay his reputation at the feet of Americans. He left America at a comparatively early age, lived in various parts of Europe before settling in the UK and eventually becoming a British citizen. More importantly he was lionised by British literary pundits keen to claim him as their own.

It does look rather charming. I can only guess he hasn't been a financially rewarding author for Folio, as The Wings of the Dove (2005) is listed in Folio 60 as the first volume in a new series of his writing, and only The Ambassadors the following year ever succeeded it. After buying those two and acknowledging that the FS would never publish nearly enough James to satisfy me, I turned to acquiring his sixteen Library of America volumes.

>6 terebinth:

The Golden Bowl was the third of the set of late novels after the two you mention - and the best.

>6 terebinth: I too love James’ work and the LOA set. He definitely seems to be an acquired taste, but I’ve loved his work since I started reading it in my early 20s.

>7 affle:

Ah, thank you, yes. I had checked with Folio 60 while quite forgetting that the books I was looking at were close to the end of its scope, and The Golden Bowl came later.