Dickens (Charles) The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, first

Dickens (Charles) The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, first edition bound from original parts, mostly first issue text, 43 engraved plates, of which 34 "Phiz" plates (23 are 1st states, including title and frontispiece, and 11 are 2nd state), 7 Seymour (all from 1st plate 2nd state, except for no.6 which is 1st plate 1st state), 2 Buss plates (both 1st states), mostly first issue text except pp.27-70 (part 2), and pp.163-178 (part 6), some plates with marginal water-staining, occasional light surface soiling, some light scattered foxing, mostly to plates, contemporary half morocco, gilt spine, light rubbing to extremities, 8vo, Chapman and Hall, 1837. *** A remarkable first edition of Pickwick Papers in one volume, bound from the original parts, with about 95% first issue text. The text is almost entirely first issue, with exception of pp.27-50 (corresponding to part 2) and pp.163-178 (second quire in Part 6) is mixed. Overall, rather fewer than 40 pages are not first issue text. By the final instalment in November 1837, The Pickwick Papers became the first 'mega-publishing' phenomenon of the modern era, eventually out-selling all books in English except the collected works of Shakespeare, the Prayer Book, and the Bible. Publishers began issuing Pickwick Papers in book form soon after the conclusion of the work being printed in instalments. The first issue of the single volume book was made-up from the remaining stocks of text and plates. With assembly by hand of text and plates from piles of printed matter, there could be some variation in the final make-up of the bound book. However, a few of the first editions in book form were created privately by subscribers or casual purchasers of the original parts issues each month. The owners could take their parts to their book-binder (or publisher) and have the assembled text and illustrations bound as instructed by 'Directions to the Binder' in the final part.

Estimation:€895.42

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