American Notes for General Circulation. By Charles Dickens. In Two Volumes. London: Chapman and Hall, MDCCCXLII (1842).
-------------------
First edition first issue of Dickens' travel memoir detailing his travels in North America in 1842, very scarce in its first issue form with all identification points present as listed below.
-------------------
First Edition Points: (All Present)
Volume 1:
- pp. xvi, pp.170 for pp.169.
- pp.3, line 5, "b" in "better" is clipped.
- pp.75, line 5, spacing in "her" between the h and e, reading "h er".
- pp.134, last line, "ance" loose type.
- pp.176, line 4, "Hertford" for "Hartford".
- pp.199, line 6, "melo" loose type and no hyphen.
- pp.209, period missing after volume number at the foot of the page.
- pp.210, many sagging lines.
- pp.235, line 14, period centered after "regular".
- pp.249, line 4, "h" lacking in "his".
- pp.253, line 5, single quote only at the end of the line.
- pp.259, line 1, the "b" in "by" is not fully printed.
- pp.276, headline, period lacking after "Legislature".
- pp.286, line 4, top half of the colon printed only.
- pp.296, line 17, "a" loose and printed high.
- pp.304, 2 lines up, "t" is battered in "best".
- pp.306, headline, a comma instead of a period is present after "Legislature".
Volume 2:
- pp. vi, "steam-boat" hyphenated here and not in the chapter title.
- pp. vii, pp.289 for pp.287, for chapter 10.
- pp.13, the quotation marks are the wrong size in several places.
- pp.20, 193, 194, 203, 244, headlines lacking period.
- pp.40, 7 lines up, "the" is lacking the "e".
- pp.95, lacking period after the first "ST" in the chapter title.
- pp.128, line 1, spacing in "two" between the w and o, reading "tw o".
- pp.137, line 4, spacing in "my" reading "m y".
- pp.202, line 4, the i is lacking in "is".
- pp.223, line 5, spacing in "and" between the a and d, reading "a nd".
- pp.253, lines 3, 4 and 5, words not aligned, loose type.
- pp.275, line 8, no punctuation at the end of the line.
- pp.276, line 1, spacing in "these" between the first e and s, reading "the se".
- pp.291, line 1, spacing in "defalcation" between the l and c, reading "defal cation".
Size: 131 x 194 mm (approx.)
Condition:
[half title, t.p., 1ff. (dedication), xv-xvi, half title, 308pp.]
Near contemporary red half morocco over marbled paper backed boards with gilt titles to the spines in compartments between raised bands lined with gilt. Bindings lightly rubbed and scuffed with the spines sunned. All boards securely attached with rubbing along joints and very minor wear to hinges. Light shelf and edge wear as typical. Marbled page edges vibrant with the top edges slightly dulled as often. No attached bookplates or ownership inscriptions. Endpapers lightly foxed. Text blocks extremely clean, near fine, with very occasional foxing.
[Smith II., 3].
