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.
-------------------
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 [4] of the 7 Smith points.
Edition Points:
The 7 'unequivocal' first issue points as defined by Walter E. Smith:
pp.260 line 29 "hodling" for "holding"
pp.276 figure "7" in page number slightly above other figures.
pp.341 line 1 correct reading of "inde-licate"; line 5 correct reading of "inscription" with stab holes. - Present.
pp.342 line 5: "S. Veller" uncorrected" - Present.
pp.400 line 21 "this friends" for "his friends" - Present.
pp.432 headline "F" in "OF" imperfect - Present.
"E" signature to pp.25 lacking
Other important early impression points include:
2 suppressed Buss plates to versos of pp.69 & pp.74 (didn't appear after November 1836)
'Veller' for 'Weller' on frontispiece (both issued simultaneously, but Veller less common).
6 line errata page to verso of directions to the binder (pp.xv-xvi) - Present
'E' signature to pp.25 and pp.27 - Present
Frontispiece chair with 4 stripes - Present
Condition:
Spine lightly sunned with some light scuffing and cracking. Head and tail rubbed. Both boards securely attached with very minor wear to joints and hinges. Boards scuffed, scratched, and discoloured. Shelf and edge wear. Dulling to page edges. Very minor foxing and makes on half title. Frontispiece and engraved title page prominently toned. Pen ownership inscription on the top corner of the title page. Text block extremely clean with very light toning and extremely sporadic very minor foxing. Plates toned with very minor foxing. Uncollated but appears complete.
