Charles Dickens, 1850

DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870). Master Humphrey’s Clock. London: Chapman and Hall, 1850.

First edition in book form. The published form of this work was an experiment by Dickens, who feared that readers had become tired of stories in monthly issues. Dickens proposed in a letter to Chapman and Hall, “To introduce a little club or knot of characters and to carry their personal histories and proceedings through the work; to introduce fresh characters constantly … and to vary the form of the papers by throwing them into sketches, letters from imaginary correspondents, and so forth, to vary the contents as much as possible.” Eckel, 69; Podeschi/Gimbel A51; Smith 6.

Three volumes, quarto (252 x 165mm). Frontispiece in each volume, numerous wood-engravings in text by George Cattermole and Hablot K. Browne (scattered minor stains and smudges, light toning to edges, thumbed). Contemporary green quarter morocco and marbled boards (worn at edges, loss to head caps of vol. III, upper joint of vol. III starting, a little staining to endpapers). Provenance: George Robinson (bookplates) – William Swaine Chisenhall Marsh (bookplates, dated 1897).