The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club by Charles Dickens.
With Illustrations by R. Seymour and Phiz. London; Chapman and Hall; MDCCCXXXVII (1837).
FIRST EDITION of Dickens' first published work in book form.
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No copies of the first edition of the Pickwick Papers will have all of the first issue points as they were bound up from the original parts. A generally comprehensive list of the key first impression points is listed below.
This copy has 1 of the 7 'unequivocal' Smith points and so is a later state of the first edition.
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Provenance:
Stamp reading "Wm. Wallace Brown."
Ink ownership inscription reading "William ? Clark Dec'r 25th 1837."
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Edition Points:
The 7 'unequivocal' first issue points as defined by Walter E. Smith:
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pp.260 line 29 "hodling" for "holding"
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pp.276 figure "7" in page number slightly above other figures.
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pp.341 line 1 correct reading of "inde-licate"; line 5 correct reading of "inscription" with stab holes.
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pp.342 line 5: "S. Veller" uncorrected" (present)
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pp.400 line 21 "this friends" for "his friends"
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pp.432 headline "F" in "OF" imperfect
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"E" signature to pp.25 lacking
Other important early impression points include:
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2 suppressed Buss plates to versos of pp.69 & pp.74 (didn't appear after November 1836)
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'Veller' for 'Weller' on frontispiece (both issued simultaneously, but Veller less common).
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6 line errata page to verso of directions to the binder (pp.xv-xvi) (present)
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'E' signature to pp.25 and pp.27 (present)
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Frontispiece chair with 4 stripes (present)
Condition:
[(3), h.t., frontis, engraved title, t.p., vii-x, v-vi, xi-xvi, 609pp., (1)].
Full black morocco binding with gilt title and raised band lines to the spine and borders to both boards. Binding rubbed and scuffed with marks/discolouration and a dent to the front board. Both boards attached with rubbing along joints and hinges starting. Shelf and edge wear. All page edges gilt with minor scratches. Spine very slightly cocked and front board lightly warped. Text block clean with light toning, occasional foxing, and some damp-staining. Illustrated with 41 plates as well as the frontispiece and vignette title page. Plates oxidised and foxed. Ink stamp to front blank which has seeped through the leaf and transferred onto the page opposite. Ink ownership inscription to front blank. Leaf edge repair to the frontispiece. Occasional edge tears. Some preliminaries mis-bound, refer to the collation above.
[Smith I. 3]
