8vo. In two volumes. v, [1], 333pp, [3] ads; [2], 316pp, [2] ads. With an engraved frontispiece and title vignette to each volume. Original publisher's red cloth, gilt. Extremities rubbed with some slight surface loss and spots of soiling. Sporadic foxing throughout, armorial bookplate of 'Robert Hutton' to FEP of both volumes.

Irish novelist Julia Kavanagh (1824-1877) found a success and popularity with her contemporary audience which has today, unfortunately, been greatly diminished. Her fictions and prolific contributions to periodical literature present a domestic style of marked clarity. Modern scholars call attention to Kavanagh's prose as having a pronounced awareness for gender politics, her protagonists often being resourceful and independent women, highlighting social differences between the sexes whilst adhering to the conventions of the time. A Summer and Winter in Two Sicilies marks a departure from the fictional to provide a catalogue of the authors travels on the Italian isles, with particular focus given to sites of historic and artistic interest and descriptions of the colourful locals and their customs.