Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
DICKENS Charles. The Village Coquettes a Comic Opera. , 1836.
Price: US$673.71 + shipping
Description: First edition. Unbound sheets, in five unopened gatherings. London, Richard Bentley. Originally issued in 71 pages in grey boards. As Eckel notes, in 1894 a cache of about 100 sets of unbound sheets was discovered; this is undoubtedly one of those sets (as opposed to a later secondary reprint). Podeschi A25. Housed in a custom case.
Seller: Maggs Bros. Ltd ABA, ILAB, PBFA, BA, London, United Kingdom
Price: US$3176.08 + shipping
Description: FIRST EDITION. Orig. unbound folded sheets in five gatherings, uncut and unopened. A v.g. well-preserved set. Gimbel A25. Dickens's comic operetta was first performed at the St James's Theatre in December 1836. The author had high hopes for the production, but although Hullah's music was generally lauded, the libretto was decidedly not. In the end it ran for just sixteen performances, as well as a handful of gala revivals. The libretto, with a dedication to J.P. Harley, was published by Bentley shortly after the production opened, but did not appear again in print until after Dickens's death.
Seller: Jarndyce, The 19th Century Booksellers, London, United Kingdom