Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
COLLINS, William Wilkie.. My Miscellanies.. Sampson Low. 1863, 1863.
Price: US$120.58 + shipping
Description: FIRST EDITION. 2 vols. 2 vols. bound as one. Head of title vol. I torn away and 'My Miscellanies' replaced in facsimile. Contemp. half maroon morocco, green label. Parrish & Miller pp51-53. 24 stories and essays which had been published in Household Words and All the Year Round.
Seller: Jarndyce, The 19th Century Booksellers, London, United Kingdom
COLLINS, William Wilkie.. My Miscellanies.. Sampson Low. 1863, 1863.
Price: US$211.66 + shipping
Description: FIRST EDITION. 2 vols. Without the dedication leaf in vol. I. 16pp. cata. in both vols. (Nov. 1863); text sl. marked & spotted, with a few sm. library stamps. Orig. dark green cloth, blocked in blind on sides, lettered in gilt on the spine; rubbed, with small spine repairs, inner hinges cracking, signs of label removal on pastedowns. A reasonably good copy. Parrish & Miller pp51-53.
Seller: Jarndyce, The 19th Century Booksellers, London, United Kingdom
COLLINS (William) Wilkie. My Miscellanies. Sampson Low, Son & Co 1863, 1863.
Price: US$384.83 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: two volumes, modern half-leather over marbled boards, raised bands, decorated in gilt, leather labels, publishers catalogue dated November 1863 both volumes, leaves tanning at edges, occasional spotting, a nice set. first edition; 291 and 300 pages; keywords: fiction; Sadleir 599; Wolff 1369
Seller: Tiger books, Canterbury, United Kingdom
Collins, Wilkie. My Miscellanies. Sampson Low, Son & Co., Ludgate Hill, London, 1863.
Price: US$1000.00 + shipping
Description: First edition. vi, [ii], 291, [1], 16 (catalogue dated November 1863); [iv], 300, 16 (catalogue dated November 1863) pp. 2 vols. 8vo. A collection of sketches originally published in Household Words and All the Year Round. Parrish & Miller, pp. 51-3; Sadleir 599; Wolff 1369 Full blue polished calf, gilt spine, with red morocco title labels, t.e.g., by Riviere & Son. Near fine vi, [ii], 291, [1], 16 (catalogue dated November 1863); [iv], 300, 16 (catalogue dated November 1863) pp. 2 vols. 8vo
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.
Collins, Wilkie. My Miscellanies. Sampson & Low, London, 1863.
Price: US$1100.00 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: Two Volume, 8vo., vi(2)291pp, 300pp. Scarce later issue of the Samson & Low First Edition, bound in original brown cloth with borders and decorations stamped in black on front boards and titles in gilt on spine. This issue has Chapman and Hall ads on front and back paste-downs and end-papers and without the publisher's ads in the rear of each volume. Much less common than the first printing. Made more interesting is the blind-stamp on the front end-paper of vol. 1 from the W.H. Smith & Son Library, 186 Strand. For several years Smith's had a lending service though here are non of the defects or evidence of typical library books. Square and tight. Some scattered foxing primarily to prelims in volume 1 and virtually none in volume two. Some fairly mild rubbing to edges and spine ends. Very faint water-stain on end-papers. A solid Very Good copy of these 24 essays and stories. (Hubin p.88; Gasson p.111-112; Wolff #1369; Sadleir #599).
Seller: Brenner's Collectable Books ABAA, IOBA, Manasquan, NJ, U.S.A.
COLLINS, Wilkie.. My Miscellanies.. Sampson Low, London., 1863.
Price: US$1122.42 + shipping
Description: First edition. Octavo. Two volumes: pp [viii], 291; [iv], 300. Mid-Twentieth Century binding by Rivière of three-quarter red morocco with raised bands, gilt decorated spines, gilt rules, cloth sides. Top edges gilt. Marbled endpapers. With the burgundy leather ex libris Beeleigh Abbey bookplate of W.A. Foyle on the front pastedown of each volume. A collection of 24 essays and stories, all of which first appeared in Household Words and All the Year Round.Two pages darkened at outer edges. A near-fine set.
Seller: Peter Ellis, Bookseller, ABA, ILAB, London, United Kingdom
COLLINS, Wilkie.. My Miscellanies.. London: Sampson Low, Son, & Co., 1863, 1863.
Price: US$2244.83 + shipping
Description: First edition of Collins's collection of essays and short stories, initially appearing between 1856 and 1861 in Charles Dickens's periodicals Household Words and All The Year Round. Gasson pp. 111-112; Parrish pp. 51-53; Sadleir, XIX Century Fiction, 599; Wolff 1369. 2 volumes, octavo. Original green diagonal-wide-bead-grain cloth, spine lettered in gilt. W. H. Smith blindstamp to front free endpaper (as with the Sadleir copy), bookplate to front pastedowns of Oliver Brett, 3rd Viscount Esher (1881-1963), son of the Governor of Windsor Castle. Worn at extremities, loss to top corner of front cover of vol. I, some foxing. A good copy.
Seller: Peter Harrington. ABA/ ILAB., London, United Kingdom
Collins, Wilkie. MY MISCELLANIES. In Two Volumes. , 1863.
Price: US$2450.00 + shipping
Description: [a handsome set] London: Sampson, Low, Son, & Co., 1863. 16 pp ads dated Nov 1863 in each volume. Original green cloth with spines stamped in gilt. First Edition of this collection of twenty-five essays, sketches and other pieces (including some fiction). All of them had initially appeared between 1856 and 1861 either in "Household Words" or in "All The Year Round," the two periodicals founded and edited by Collins's brother's father-in-law, Charles Dickens. (Collins's most famous works, THE WOMAN IN WHITE and THE MOONSTONE, also first appeared in "All The Year Round.") Most of the pieces are categorized by Collins as "Sketches of Character," "Nooks and Corners of History," "Social Grievances," "Curiosities of Literature," "Fragments of Personal Experience" and "Cases Worth Looking At." Andrew Gasson in his bibliography provides a one-clause recap of each piece, enough to get across that many demonstrate Collins's wit and his disdain for Victorian sensibilities -- for example "Talk Stoppers" details "enemies to the art of conversation," "A Journey in Search of Nothing" constitutes "reflections on the difficulties of enforced idleness," "Give Us Room!" covers "the dangers of crinoline and overcrowding at parties.," and "Save Me From My Friends" is "a wry look at the disruptive influence on a writer of too many well-meaning friends." This title also appears in Hubin's bibliography of crime fiction, due to such pieces as "The Poisoned Meal" and "The Cauldron of Oil," based on real crimes. These volumes, as issued without half-titles, are in the primary binding of "grass-green diagonal-wide-bead-grain cloth, greenish buff endpapers," as described by Sadleir -- with the first-state ads; most copies we hear of either are rebound or are in the secondary brown cloth binding (with Chapman & Hall ads) from about a decade later. Condition is bright and just about fine (the volumes are slightly askew, but there is no external soil or wear other than one faint droplet-mark on a front cover); near the gutter of each front free endpaper is the remnant of an affixed leaf that included numbers down the left (visible) edge. Gasson pp 111-112; Parrish pp 51-53; Sadleir 599; Wolff 1369; Hubin p. 88.
Seller: Sumner & Stillman [ABAA], Yarmouth, ME, U.S.A.
COLLINS, Wilkie. My Miscellanies. , 1863.
Price: US$3848.28 + shipping
Description: London: Sampson Low & Co., 1863. 2 vols, 8vo; original dark green cloth, patterned in blind, spines lettered in gilt, olive green endpapers; vol. I pp. vi, [ii], 291, [i], (16, advertisements, unopened); vol. II pp. [iv], 300, (16, advertisements, some unopened); a little cloth warping to upper cover of volume one, some mild rubbing and occasional interior foxing, covers unfaded, sturdy aside from a little weakness to the internal hinges (as usual), a very good set, with the bookplate of John Martineau to front paste down endpapers. First Edition, of this set of collected essays, originally published in Household Words between 1857-1861. Sometimes found in a later brown remainder binding, or lacking the advertisements at the end of both volumes. The essays are divided into subcategories, including Sketches of Character, Curiosities of Literature and Social Grievances. Some of the essays retain relevance today, particularly the Social Grievances, which bear titles one can instantly empathise with such as "Save Me From My Friends" or "Give Us Room". As a whole, the essays are united by Collins' biting wit and scathing disdain for Victorian sensibilities.
Seller: Henry Sotheran Ltd, London, United Kingdom