Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Charles Dickens. HARD TIMES. A Novel. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1854.
Price: US$100.00 + shipping
Description: 101p. DISBOUND. A book that has been disbound and lacks the entire cover. The standalone text block is tightly bound in itself, and the text is unmarked. Pages browned with age.
Seller: Kubik Fine Books Ltd., ABAA, Dayton, OH, U.S.A.
Dickens, Charles (1812-1870). Hard Times. A Novel. Harper & Brothers, New York, 1854.
Price: US$499.99 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: New York: Harper & Brothers, 1854. First American edition issued in cloth hardcover, preceded by a softcover edition. Blue textured cloth with gilt spine lettering and decoration, covers decorated in blind, yellow endpapers, 292 pages. Very good with some curring to the extremities, gilt bright and clear, good hinges, firm text block, wear to a couple of pages from protruding slightly from the outer edge of the text block, light foxing throughout, pages otherwise clean, no names or other markings. First US Edition. Hard Cover. Very Good. 12mo - over 6¾" - 7¾" tall.
Seller: Resource Books, LLC, East Granby, CT, U.S.A.
DICKENS, Charles. Hard Times. A Novel. Harper and Brothers, New York, 1854.
Price: US$600.00 + shipping
Description: Second Harper edition, but First American edition to be bound in cloth (preceded by the McElrath and Harper wrappers editions). Octavo, original publisher's blind stamped blue cloth, gilt lettered. See Charles Dickens First American Editions by Walter E. Smith, page 329 for full description of this edition. Good only copy of a very scarce book with moderate wear, covers darkened and slightly warped.
Seller: Yesterday's Gallery, ABAA, East Woodstock, CT, U.S.A.
DICKENS, Charles. Hard Times. A Novel. Harper and Brothers, New York, 1854.
Price: US$600.00 + shipping
Description: Second Harper edition, but First American edition to be bound in cloth (preceded by the McElrath and Harper wrappers editions). Octavo, original publisher's blind stamped blue cloth, gilt lettered. See Charles Dickens First American Editions by Walter E. Smith, page 329 for full description of this edition. Good only copy of a very scarce book with moderate wear, covers darkened and slightly warped.
Seller: Babylon Revisited Rare Books, Northampton, MA, U.S.A.
Price: US$1288.26 + shipping
Description: Both the first and second US editions of Hard Times, the shortest, but also arguably the most political, of Dickens's novels, as well as being the only novel set entirely outside of London. The novel was first published in the UK in Household Words from April to August 1854, and in book form on 7 August 1854. The novel was first published in the US by T. L. McElrath, who paid $1,500 for the advance sheets of the final parts of the UK edition, on 8 August 1854. This copy is in Smith's binding variant B, with the front wrapper also naming the published Dewitt & Davenport. The second US edition was published by Harper & Brothers a single day later, on 9 August 1854. Harper was unwilling to pay for advance sheets, and so used the T. L. McElrath edition to quickly typeset their edition and publish it the following day. The Harper edition was published at half the price, and was designed to outcompete the former edition. Smith notes a contemporary newspaper reporting that this "entirely stopped the sale of McElrath's book, robbed him of the profits of his enterprise, and literally crushed the young rival out of existence" (cited in Smith, p. 328). Smith, American Editions, pp. 323-8. 2 copies, octavo. Original brown wrappers printed in black. Housed together in custom green quarter morocco box. Recent bookplate of collector Peter Russell mounted to inside cover of box. Wrappers a little worn, the first edition with some reinforcement at extremities, contents a little spotted, second edition with some peripheral staining and minor fire damage to bottom fore corner. Good copies.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom