Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
. All the Year Round A Weekly Journal Volume 5. Chapman and Hall, 1861.
Price: US$45.09 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Conducted by Charles Dickens. Slight foxing and bumping to corners
Seller: siop lyfrau'r hen bost, Blaenau Ffestiniog, United Kingdom
Price: US$50.00 + shipping
Condition: Fair
Description: The Extra Christmas Number of All The Year Round. Conducted by Charles Dickens. Containing the Amount of Two Ordinary Numbers. 48; 48 p. 25 cm. Disbound. Paper browned with chips to some edges. Some sections written by Charles Alston Collins, Amelia Edwards, Wilkie Collins, John Harwood, John Oxenford, Arthur Locker but no credit given on these copies.
Seller: Attic Books (ABAC, ILAB), London, ON, Canada
Charles Lever. One of Them. Chapman and Hall, London, 1861.
Price: US$90.18 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: A very smart and well presented first edition copy of the Irish writer and raconteur later work One of Them with 28 illustrations by Phiz. A copy of the Irish novelist, Charles Lever's, later work One of Them.This edition includes 28 plate illustrations by the English artist and illustrator Halbot Knight Brown or Phiz, who also illustrated for Charles Dickens.Collated, complete. In full brown morocco leather binding. Externally, very well presented. Light fading to the extremities and joints. Very faint marks to the boards and spine. Internally, firmly bound. Frontispiece missing and tape to rear of plates facing page 35, 266 and 333, but all 28 illustrations are present and well presented. Pages are generally bright and clean with a few scattered spots. Very Good
Seller: Rooke Books PBFA, Bath, United Kingdom
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Published at No. 26, Wellington Street, and by Mssrs. Chapman and Hall, Piccadilly, 1861, hardcover, very good book with some shelf wear to spine, very collectible, unmarked with clean clear text, not remaindered, bookclub or library
Seller: MySEAbooks, Harlingen, TX, U.S.A.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Published at No. 26, Wellington Street, and by Mssrs. Chapman and Hall, Piccadilly, 1861, hardcover, very good book with some shelf wear to spine, very collectible, unmarked with clean clear text, not remaindered, bookclub or library
Seller: MySEAbooks, Harlingen, TX, U.S.A.
Dickens Charles. Barnaby Rudge - Two Volumes. Chapman and Hall, 1861.
Price: US$141.71 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: All books outside UK sent airmail. All books outside UK over £40 sent tracked and inside UK sent signed for. Paypal accepted. Volume IX Library Edition. The second half of volume two contains "Hard Times". In the first volume there are twenty plates by H K Browne and G Catermole. In the second volume there are twelve plates by H K Browne and G Catermole and four plates to "Hard Times" by F Walker ( All are present as listed). Original grained red cloth with slight wear to edges of spine ends. Gilt titling. Internally clean with only minor spotting. The plates are bright, a very good set. Price is for the set.
Seller: Lavender Fields Books PBFA, Gloucestershire, United Kingdom
Dickens, Charles. All the Year Round. A Weekly Journal. Vol V & VI. Chapman and Hall, London, 1861.
Price: US$154.59 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Includes the following: All the Year Round Volume 5 numbers 120 - 126 (August 10th, 1861 - September 21st, 1861) and the whole of volume 6: numbers 127 - 150 (September 28th, 1861 to March 8th, 1862), plus the extra Christmas number (Christmas 1862). Some edge wear and chipping, rubbed, content clean and tidy. Size: 8vo
Seller: Bookcase, Carlisle, United Kingdom
Dickens, Charles. The Uncommercial Traveller. Chapman and Hall, London, 1861.
Price: US$350.01 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 264 p. Original publisher's purple/lavender decoratively blind stamped cloth over boards with gilt to spine, now faded. General fading to covers. Old bookplate from personal library to inside front cover. Three name stamps to ffep and last black page. Signature and stamp of "Castle Court House Trowbridge" to half title page. Slight stress to rear inner hinge though binding holding well. Covers overall somewhat discoloured. Mildly cocked. Overall at not unattractive exemplar of the scarce second edition of Dicken's tale. The 17 papers/sketches in the book first appeared in All The Year Round in 1860. This second edition, lacking the 32 p. of publisher's ads of the first edition is oddly scarce with no copies listed on-line at the time of listing.
Seller: Sellers & Newel Second-Hand Books , Toronto, ON, Canada
Price: US$380.04 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: One of the scarce early volumes, this volume IV containing the serialised first half of Great Expectations. Binding sound and tight, text generally clean, both free endpapers are torn, the front one is only half present, the rear double flyleaf has a large corner torn out of both. Easily repaired as no text affected. Leather supple and not threatening to split and with no powderiness. General minor shelfwear and dulling to the gilt titling, rubbing to corners and spine ends. Raised bands with gilt decorations. Leather title label present on spine. some waviness to pages, normal for this type of thin paper. Pages tanned with no sense of brittleness thereby. The marbled paper covering the boards is age darkened and shelfworn with the odd scuff. Overall a competent copy which won't need a fortune spent at the book doctor and has good shelf appeal as-is. Size: 4to
Seller: Book Bungalow, Edinburgh, United Kingdom
DICKENS, Charles.. The Uncommercial Traveller. 2nd edn.. Chapman & Hall. 1861, 1861.
Price: US$425.13 + shipping
Description: Half title. Orig. mauve wavy-grained cloth, blocked in blind, spine with lettering reversed out of gilt; spine faded, two small marks on following board. Faint ownership inscription, 1861, on leading f.e.p. A good-plus copy as originally issued. First published in time for Christmas in December 1860, The Uncommercial Traveller is a collection of travel essays which first appeared in All the Year Round, between January and October 1860. This second edition is bound identically to the first. Additional essays were added to subsequent editions.
Seller: Jarndyce, The 19th Century Booksellers, London, United Kingdom
DICKENS, CHARLES. THE UNCOMMERCIAL TRAVELLER. Chapman & Hall, London, 1861.
Price: US$452.44 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: pp: [x][1]2-264. FIRST EDITION. Full brown calf, raised bands and elaborate decoration on spine, marbled endpapers, no foxing to the text. No illustrations or ads. Rebound with the original spine laid down. The book consists of a collection of the first series of articles taken from 'All The Year Round'. It includes his introduction to the work. And the remainder comprise the original seventeen articles first appearing in 'All The Year Round' between January and October, 1860. The top board is detached.
Seller: MAPLE RIDGE BOOKS, UXBRIDGE, ON, Canada
DICKENS, Charles. All The Year Round. A Weekly Journal: Volume IV. Chapman & Hall, London, 1861.
Price: US$500.00 + shipping
Description: Tall 8vo, original green cloth, decoratively blind-stamped, with spine lettering in gilt. London: Chapman & Hall, 1861. First Edition. Contains the first 28 chapters of "Great Expectations".
Seller: Argosy Book Store, ABAA, ILAB, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Dickens, Charles. The Uncommercial Traveller.. Chapman and Hall, London, 1861.
Price: US$1250.00 + shipping
Description: First edition in book form of Dickens' classic collection of personal vignettes. Octavo, bound in full polished calf by Tout, morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, elaborate gilt tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, ribbon bound in, all edges gilt. In near fine condition, bookplate to the pastedown. An attractive example. The literary sketches contained in The Uncommercial Traveller first appeared in serial form in Dickens' journal All the Year Round. The persona of the 'uncommerical traveller' echoed Dickens' personal sentiments as a writer who liked to travel, not only as a tourist, but also to research and report what he found visiting Europe, American, and cities and towns throughout Great Britain. Dickens did not seem content to rest late in his career when he had attained wealth and comfort and continued travelling locally, walking the streets of London in the mould of the flâneur, a "gentleman stroller of city streets". He often suffered from insomnia and his night-time wanderings gave him an insight into some of the hidden aspects of Victorian London, details of which he also incorporated into his novels.
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Charles Dickens. The Uncommercial Traveller. Chapman and Hall, London, 1861.
Price: US$2351.30 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Chapman & Hall, London:, 1861. Contains 17 sketches of Dickens', which first appeared in his weekly periodical, All The Year Round. Reasonable extremity wear, with lower tips showing slight abrasion. Withal, a reasonable copy. 19th C. deep maroon full morocco binding by Reviere, with elaborate gilt decorated spine.
Seller: Morshead Books, Beaumaris, VIC, Australia
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: The Uncommercial Traveller by Charles Dickens. First printing of the book edition in original publishers binding. Publisher: Chapman and Hall, London, 1861 (Received December 1860). 5 ½ x 7 ¾ inches. 264 pages with 32 page catalog of ads dated December 1860 in the rear. Publisher's purple cloth, decoratively blind-stamped boards, gilt-stamped spine, pale yellow endpapers. Binding faded, now appearing brown but in remarkably fine condition (several spot stains to front and back. Contents clean and bright. All internal flaws present per Smith bibliography. It is unusual to find all points present and in the scarce original cloth binding. Protected by Mylar. Inventory #C-123. Price: $2,500. Language: eng
Seller: Discovery Bay Old Books ABAA, ILAB, Brentwood, CA, U.S.A.
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: 2 volumes. Both bound with green leather spines and corners, marbled paper over boards. The green leather spines are dried to dark brown and are flaking off. Volume numbers, 4 and 5, stamped in gold. The titles are nearly peeled off, showing only stamped lettering but no gold leaf, on paler green panels. Covers are all attached and bindings are tight, and laying flat, the books do not show any discouraging condition issues. Some rubbing and scuffed corners, but nothing out of the ordinary for books of this age. Bookplates on the inside front covers of both with the name Charles Reid and the image of a ship at sea. The name Emily Foot signed on the front endpaper. Volume 4 starts with issue 77, from October 13, 1860, and concludes with issue 100, March 23, 1860, plus the Christmas 1860 issue which has A Message from the Sea, in its entirety, at the end. 571 + 48 pages. Volume 5 contains issues 101 through 126 (March to September 1861). In addition to articles of general and literary interest, these two volumes contain Dickens's Great Expectations in their original, periodical, form. The first 28 chapters are in Volume 4 and chapters 29-58 are in volume 5. All of it is present here. Dickens had an ownership stake in the periodical, and when its sales started to decline, he began Great Expectations in its pages. It is his thirteenth book. It was published in book form later in 1861. Please email with questions or to request photos. Apart from pages toned from age (and a random chipped margin on one page, which I saw while flipping through but cannot find again), quite a nice clean copy.
Seller: Riverby Books, Fredericksburg, VA, U.S.A.
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations (All the Year Round). Chapman & Hall, London, 1861.
Price: US$2500.00 + shipping
Condition: Fine
Description: First Edition of Volume IV of "Great Expectations" First Published in the "All the Year Round" weekly journal in two volumes. This set consists of the first volume IV but is missing volume V that completes the novel. Volume IV consists of Chapters 1-28. Volume V has Chapters 29-59, novel concludes on page 437 in Volume V. The book has been rebound in nice leather. The binding is tight and the boards are crisp. A lovely copy of this First appearance of Great Expectations in book form, before the publishing of the novel on its own. We buy Dickens First Editions.
Seller: Magnum Opus Rare Books, Missoula, MT, U.S.A.
Price: US$6460.64 + shipping
Description: (1823-1895, Publisher and partner in Chapman and Hall) sending "another little job for Clowes's. It is a very short one. I have written all needful instructions fro the printer. Will you let them have a few sheets of the same paper as before, and direct them to pull three piles [?] for me (when revised) as in the other instances, and then to distribute. Speed will be a great convenience to m, as my Reading time is fast drawing on and I want the book by me any hour." 1 side 8vo., Gads Hill Place, Higham by Rochester, Kent, Saturday Night, 1st September Chapman and Hall published the works of Charles Dickens, Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett Browning, among others. In 1880 Chapman turned his business into a limited company which he ran until his death. On 28th March 1870, three months before his death, Charles Dickens signed an agreement with Frederic Chapman and Henry Trollope confirming their shared ownership of Dickens's copyrights. Chapman bought the remainder of those copyrights after Dickens's death; he also carefully cultivated Dickens' relatives Georgina Hogarth and Mary Dickens when they proposed to edit Dickens's letters. Dickens, in fact, made Chapman & Hall rich. William Clowes Ltd. is a British printing company founded in London in 1803 by William Clowes. It grew from a small, one press firm to one of the world's largest printing companies in the mid-19th century. After separating from Catherine, Dickens undertook a series of popular and remunerative reading tours which, together with his journalism, were to absorb most of his creative energies for the next decade, in which he was to write only two novels. His first reading tour, lasting from April 1858 to February 1859, consisted of 129 appearances in 49 towns throughout England, Scotland and Ireland. Dickens's continued fascination with the theatrical world was written into the theatre scenes in Nicholas Nickleby, and he found an outlet in public readings. In 1866, he undertook a series of public readings in England and Scotland, with more the following year in England and Ireland. His books at this time were A Tale of Two Cities (1859) and Great Expectations (1861), both of which were resounding successes.
Seller: Sophie Dupre ABA ILAB PADA, Calne, United Kingdom
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Chapman & Hall, London, 1861.
Price: US$8000.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: First edition, second impression. (Stated "Second Edition" on all title pages. 344; 351; 344pp. Complete in three volumes. Contemporary leather with gilt ruling and lettering on spine. Bound without ads, quite likely as issued. Bibliographer Walter E. Smith describes printings two through five as indistinguishable except for their title pages, which may have been printed at the same time to give the impression of brisk sales. All had the same textual errors, etc.) Bindings edge-worn, leather starting to split along spine edges, hinges a bit tender, gilt barely legible. Internally Very Good with some light corner creasing, stray light stains and foxing. A very nice set of the classic novel.
Seller: Burnside Rare Books, ABAA, Portland, OR, U.S.A.
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations.. Chapman and Hall, London, 1861.
Price: US$8800.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, second impression of Dickensâ popular Victorian bildungsroman. Octavo, bound in three quarter morocco over marbled boards with gilt tooling to the spine in three compartments within raised gilt bands, morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Second impression lacking the advertisements, quite likely as issued. Edition statements neatly removed from titles. In very good condition. Rare and desirable. Dickens' penultimate novel, Great Expectations, was written in "the afternoon of [his] life and fame" (G.K. Chesterton). The novel contains some of Dickens' most memorable scenes, including its opening, set in a graveyard, when the young orphan Pip is accosted by escaped convict Abel Magwitch. Upon its release, the novel received near universal acclaim. Although Dickens' contemporary Thomas Carlyle referred to it disparagingly as "that Pip nonsense," he nevertheless reacted to each fresh instalment with "roars of laughter." Later, George Bernard Shaw praised the novel, as "all of one piece and consistently truthful." During the serial publication, Dickens was pleased with public response to Great Expectations and its sales; when the plot first formed in his mind, he called it "a very fine, new and grotesque idea."
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations. Chapman and Hall, London, 1861.
Price: US$20000.00 + shipping
Condition: Near Fine
Description: First Edition, First Printing, fifth issue. Three volumes, including the publisher's catalog dated August 1861 at the rear of Volume III. Bound in the ORIGINAL publisher's ribbed purple cloth binding, with ruling and decorations in blind to boards, lettering and decorations in gilt to spine. Each volume with bright boards, toning to the spines, wear to the extremities, some light rubbing across. Volume I, with spine cracked at front hinge, former owner's signature to the dedication page. Volumes II and III each starting at front hinges, former owner's signature to the title pages. Each volume with otherwise intact spines and extremely bright and clean interiors. This copy has the majority of the first issue points, with only a few of the corrections that were made after the first issue. Overall, a clean and attractive set, extremely rare in the unsophisticated publisher's cloth. Smith I, 14. Great Expectations was originally published serially in All the Year Round, the author's literary magazine, in thirty-six weekly issues from December 1860-August 1861. It is one of Dickens' two novels that was not illustrated in the first book edition, the other being Hard Times. The first issue of the first edition, published on July 6, 1861, was followed by four subsequent issues of the same edition, published on August 5, August 17, September 21, and October 30 of the same year. Smith notes that "These first five issues were probably printed at a single impression and published with altered title pages to imply and encourage a rapid sale In all five issues, the same misprints persist." Thus, the first five issues are essentially the same first edition with varying title pages, printed simultaneously and issued in successive intervals. While some of the first issue's misprints were fixed, the corrections were not all-encompassing, yielding a variety of misprints and corrections in the first issues. For example, this volume contains some of the later issue corrections, but includes an earlier catalog that was also published in earlier issues. The first issue, which included a print run of 1,000 copies was "almost entirely taken up by the libraries," leaving only a few hundred copies for private ownership and increasing the rarity of a privately-owned later issue of the first printing. Great Expectations is Dickens' thirteenth novel. Like his 1850 novel David Copperfield, it is a bildungsroman that follows the protagonist's life from childhood to adulthood and is written entirely in the first-person. Great Expectations tells the story of a young orphan boy named Pip and his "great expectations" of becoming a gentleman and receiving his benefactor's wealth and property. A classic Victorian novel, Great Expectations features many of Dickens' recurring themes, including orphans, prison life, and Victorian society. Overall, a solid unrestored, uniform set, all original and not made up or supplied from other copies. An affordable copy in collector's condition. We buy Dickens First Editions!!!
Seller: Magnum Opus Rare Books, Missoula, MT, U.S.A.
Dickens Charles. GREAT EXPECTATIONS. London Chapman and Hall 1861, 1861.
Price: US$27500.00 + shipping
Description: 3 volumes. First Edition, fifth issue of the title-pages, but with virtually all first issue points of the First Edition, first impression, first state. Vol. III with "i" p. 193, "3" present as last digit in p. 103 in the text per Smith and Clarendon bibliographies and etc. With the August 1861 catalogue. 8vo, publishers original purple cloth lettered and decorated in gilt on the spines and in blind on the upper and lower covers. [iv], 344; [ii], 350; [ii], 344 pp. An unusually handsome, clean and fresh copy without repairs or sophistication. Light mellowing to the cloth from age, slight rubbing at the tips, hinges strong and quite tight with only slight evidence of age wear. The text block remains clean and in excellent condition. Very rare in this condition and state of preservation. HIGHLY IMPORTANT AND VERY RARE FIRST EDITION IN THE ORIGINAL CLOTH. "The rarity of the first issue of GREAT EXPECTATIONS has been attributed to the.fact that 'the first edition was almost entirely taken up by libraries." Patten, pp. 290-292, states that 1000 copies of the first issue and 750 of the second were printed and that probably most of the first and more than half of the second (1400 copies in all) were purchased by Mudies Select Library" (Smith, DICKENS IN THE ORIGINAL CLOTH). Even in 1932 Eckel lamented that "to obtain fine clean copies of this book has been the unsuccessful quest of many book collectors." Struggle between the various bibliographical arguments continues to this day with many holding to the points and positions formulated by Smith (see CHARLES DICKENS IN THE ORIGINAL CLOTH) while some argument is occasionally made that copies of the book must correspond to the specifications put forth in the Clarendon bibliography. But as the sampling of copies used in that bibliography was statistically too small to gain absolute information by which a definitive argument could logically be made for the entire first edition run, it remains the case that such data can be used logically to build an argument towards acceptance of the existence of one micro pattern only within the run and not therefore a finding which determines finally and clearly for the whole. Most experts today, continue to hold that Victorian printings and editions yielded to many factors during the binding process, not the least of which were economy and imprecision. It is likely that a Victorian publisher would most surely have used existing sheets when sewing together the gatherings before binding. Indeed, the specifications which are contained in the Oxford article seem to show that the textual points noted are of a very minor state and involve a change of or damage to a letter here or a word there, and as the editor Margaret Caldwell herself notes, "the clear conclusion is that there is no warrant for treating the five impressions as distinct editions: no authorial revision distinguishes one from another; blatant errors of substance remain uncorrected; a few errors and accidentals are corrected but many more remain." It is also noted that one copy at the Bodlean at Oxford University is mixed state within the text while having first edition, first issue title pages.
Seller: Buddenbrooks, Inc., Newburyport, MA, U.S.A.
DICKENS, Charles. Great Expectations In Three Volumes.. Chapman and Hall, London, 1861.
Price: US$27500.00 + shipping
Description: First edition in book form, first issue. Three octavo volumes (7 x 4 1/2 inches; 180 x 115 mm). [2], 344; [2], 351, [1, printer's imprint]; [2], 344 pp. With all first issue title-pages and all the internal flaws for the first issue called for by Smith, except for the two points in Volume III that Smith notes only appeared in Sadleir's copy ("3" missing in page number on p. 103, and first "i" missing in "inflexible" on p. 193, four lines up). More impressively, besides these two previous mentioned points, this set has all first issue points called for by Clarendon except volume III, page 220, line 16, the end of line hyphen is not faint. So 116 of 119 of Clarendon 's points, of which two are only in some copies. Bound without half-titles or advertisements. Three volumes uniformly bound by Bayntun in full red morocco. Boards ruled in gilt. Board edges tooled in gilt. Gilt dentelles. Spines stamped and lettered in gilt. All edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. Some light toning to a few pages. A few instances of light "dog-ear" creasing to upper corners. Overall a near fine set. Housed in a red cloth slipcase. One of only two Dickens novels never issued in monthly partsâ"the typical method since Pickwickâ"Great Expectations is also one of only two of his novels whose first editions weren't illustrated (in both cases, Hard Times is the other). Great Expectations first appeared in England in the pages of Dickens's popular magazine, All the Year Round, beginning on December 1, 1860 (though two American magazines, Harper's Weekly and the American All the Year Round began serializing it slightly earlier, technically jeopardizing Dickens's British copyright). "The rarity of the first issue of Great Expectations has been attributed to the probable small binding-up of copies with the first title-page, coupled with the fact (according to C.P. Johnson, Hints to Collectors, p. 33, and others later) that âthe first edition was almost entirely taken up by the libraries.' Patten, pp. 290-92, states that 1,000 copies of the first issue and 750 of the second were printed and that probably most of the first and more than half of the second (1400) copies in all) were purchased by Mudie's Select Library" (Smith I, p. 104, note 5). Gimbel A146. Smith, Dickens, I, 14. Eckel, pp. 91-93. Clarendon, Cardwell. HBS 68805. $27,500.
Seller: Heritage Book Shop, ABAA, Beverly Hills, CA, U.S.A.
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations [first edition, three volumes]. Chapman and Hall: London, 1861.
Price: US$31625.00 + shipping
Description: 3 vols. 8 x 5", violet embossed cloth, 344pp, 351pp; 344pp + 32pp publisher's catalogue, covers rubbed, extremities bumped and worn, spines sunned and cocked, hinges loose, vol. 1 eps spotted, contents a bit worn with some finger soiling, ink marks on ffep of vol. 2, vol. 2 rear fly creased else a nice set in a custom gilt-dec golden crushed morocco; cloth case by Bayntun-Riviere (though not stated as such- from a collection of Bayntun-Riviere signed bindings.) FIRST EDITIONS IN THE ORIGINAL CLOTH; volume 3 is a later state with the apostrophe on p. 173, and with period in heading on p. 238, BUT WITH ALL OTHER POINTS AS GIVEN IN THE WALTER E. SMITH BIBLIOGRAPHY INCLUDING THE MAY 1861 PUBLISHER'S CATALOGUE AT REAR OF VOLUME 3.
Seller: John K King Used & Rare Books, Detroit, MI, U.S.A.
Dickens, Charles. Great Expectations.. Chapman and Hall, London, 1861.
Price: US$45000.00 + shipping
Description: First edition, first impression of Dickens' rarest novel. Octavo, three volumes bound in full royal blue crushed levant morocco by Bayntun Bindery with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and wide gilt inner dentelles stamp-signed by Bayntun, all edges gilt. The earliest impression of Dicken's rarest novel. This copy agrees in all points with Margaret Caldwell's extensive analysis of the differing impressions in the Clarendon edition of Great Expectations. As in the Lawrence Drizen copy sold in 2019 at Sothebyâs and in the Clarendon edition, the third volume here contains the numeral â3â in the pagination on p. 103, and the initial âiâ in âinflexibleâ on p. 193, which are sometimes missing in copies of the first impression of the third volume, indicating thatÂthe present copy is among the earlier printings of the first impression. Smith comments that âthe rarity of the firstÂissue ofÂGreatÂExpectationsÂhas been attributed to the probable small binding-up of copies with theÂfirstÂtitle-page, coupled with the fact (according to C.P. Johnson, âHints to Collectorsâ) that âtheÂfirstÂedition was almost entirely taken up by the libraries.â Only 1,000 copies of theÂfirstÂissue and 750 copies of the second were printed and that probably most of theÂfirst and more than half of the second (1400 copies in all) were purchased by Mudieâs Select Library. Eckel, pp. 91-93; Sadleir 688; Smith I:14. In fine condition. An exceptional example of one of Dickens' great masterpieces. Dickens' penultimate novel, Great Expectations, was written in "the afternoon of [his] life and fame" (G.K. Chesterton). The novel contains some of Dickens' most memorable scenes, including its opening, set in a graveyard, when the young orphan Pip is accosted by escaped convict Abel Magwitch. Upon its release, the novel received near universal acclaim. Although Dickens' contemporary Thomas Carlyle referred to it disparagingly as "that Pip nonsense," he nevertheless reacted to each fresh instalment with "roars of laughter." Later, George Bernard Shaw praised the novel, as "all of one piece and consistently truthful." During the serial publication, Dickens was pleased with public response to Great Expectations and its sales; when the plot first formed in his mind, he called it "a very fine, new and grotesque idea."
Seller: Raptis Rare Books, Palm Beach, FL, U.S.A.
DICKENS, Charles. Great Expectations In Three Volumes.. Chapman and Hall, London, 1861.
Price: US$45000.00 + shipping
Description: First edition in book form, first issue according to Smith. Three octavo volumes. [4], 344; [2], 351, [1, printer's imprint]; [2], 344 pp. plus 32 pp. advertisements, dated May, 1861. With the first issue title-pages and with all the internal flaws for the first issue called for by Smith, except page 173 in volume III has an apostrophe in "there's." There are a four more points however that Smith notes which do not occur in every copy. Our set does not have the two points in Volume III that Smith notes only appeared in Sadleir's copy ("3" missing in page number on p. 103, and first "i" missing in "inflexible" on p. 193, four lines up). However, our set does have the two other points which are that there is a period after the headline on page 236 in volume III and also a dot over the 'i" on page 278, volume II. However, according to Clarendon, we have some points of the first issue, but most are second. Original moderate violet wavy-grain cloth with covers decoratively stamped in blind and spines ruled in blind and decoratively stamped and lettered in gilt. Spines a bit sunned and extremities of boards and spines lightly rubbed. Occasional signature slightly sprung. Front inner hinge of volume III professionally restored, others with hairline cracks. Overall, an almost fine set in every way. Housed together in a blue morocco pull-off case by Riviere & Son. One of only two Dickens novels never issued in monthly parts- the typical method since Pickwick- Great Expectations is also one of only two of his novels whose first editions weren't illustrated (in both cases, Hard Times is the other). Great Expectations first appeared in England in the pages of Dickens's popular magazine, All the Year Round, beginning on December 1, 1860 (though two American magazines, Harper's Weekly and the American All the Year Round began serializing it slightly earlier, technically jeopardizing Dickens's British copyright). "The rarity of the first issue of Great Expectations has been attributed to the probable small binding-up of copies with the first title-page, coupled with the fact (according to C.P. Johnson, Hints to Collectors, p. 33, and others later) that 'the first edition was almost entirely taken up by the libraries.' Patten, pp. 290-92, states that 1,000 copies of the first issue and 750 of the second were printed and that probably most of the first and more than half of the second (1400) copies in all) were purchased by Mudie's Select Library" (Smith I, p. 104, note 5). Smith I, 14. Eckel, pp. 91-93. Gimbel A146. HBS 68722. $45,000.
Seller: Heritage Book Shop, ABAA, Beverly Hills, CA, U.S.A.
DICKENS, Charles.. Great Expectations.. London: Chapman and Hall, 1861, 1861.
Price: US$109502.35 + shipping
Description: First edition, first impression, published on 6 July 1861; both the rarest and most valuable of Dickens's works, and, arguably, his greatest. Copies in the original cloth are particularly desirable. Five impressions of the first edition were printed, each of the latter four with a new edition statement on the title page. The modern bibliographical authority is the table given in Appendix D to the Clarendon edition, 1993, in which Margaret Cardwell agrees with the traditional conclusion that the same setting of type was used for all five impressions: "there is no warrant for treating the five impressions as distinct editions" (p. 491). However, she deduces the impressions were sequential and that minor corrections and gradual deterioration of type can be shown across the five impressions, allowing the first impression to be identified even when the title page is tampered with or absent. Patten states that 1,000 copies of the first impression were printed and that probably most of these copies were purchased by Mudie's Select Library where, as circulating library copies, they inevitably suffered a high rate of attrition, leading to their renowned rarity. This copy contains the earliest state of every point outlined in the Clarendon edition. The third volume here contains the numeral "3" in the pagination on p. 103, and the "i" in "inflexible" on p. 193, which are sometimes missing in copies of the first impression of the third volume, indicating that the present copy is among the earlier printings of the first impression. This copy also has the early reading of vol. 3, p. 192, with "himself" and "very carefully" on separate lines. Smith, I, 14 (but superseded by Clarendon); Sadleir 688; Wolff 1799. Robert L. Patten, Charles Dickens and His Publishers, 1978. 3 volumes, octavo. Original violet wavy-grained cloth, spines lettered in gilt, covers with floral decoration within linear border stamped in blind, cream endpapers. Housed in a custom blue cloth folding box. Vol. III bound without 32pp. catalogue. Monogram bookplates, "P.H.G." (or "H.P.G."); afterwards in the library of Sir Brent Gration-Maxfield, his ownership inscriptions dated 1974, his sale, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 9-10 Feb. 1981, lot 72. Some expert repairs at foot of spines, relined at an early date with matching yellow contemporary paper, rubbing and slight staining to cloth, faint shadow of removed labels to front covers, spines and edges darkened, some minor spotting at ends, closed marginal tear at vol. II, N6, corner repair to vol. III, I2.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom