DICKENS, Charles. Pictures from Italy The Vignette Illustrations on Wood by Samuel Palmer. Bradbury & Evans, Whitefriars [London], 1846.

Price: US$750.00 + shipping

Condition: Very Good

Description: 12mo. Pp. [2] (two pages advertising new and revised edition of "Oliver Twist" and a new untitled novel (Dombey and Son, per Eckel), 269, [1], followed by two pages of Dickens titles. With the original backstrip, titled in gilt, bound-in. Bound in red morocco, gilt spine titles with compartments tooled in gilt with raised bands, triple rule gilt frames in gilt. Turn-ins rolled in gilt. Binding signed Zaehnsdorf. Top edge gilt. Endpapers with slight offsetting; front free endpaper with chip to lower corner; fore-edge with superficial dampstain. Corners a trifle worn and scuff on rear cover; joints expertly repaired with discrete tissue strengthening to joints. Please see photos. A handsome, presentable copy. A sumptuous Zaehnsdorf binding for Dickens' dispatches from Italy: The first few accounts were published 1846 in the paper he edited, The Daily News; five more were added to create Pictures from Italy, also 1846, presented here in the first issue of the first edition. Italy's built (and decayed) environment has been documented since Vitruvius. Dickens' brilliance? His depictions of street life, including a public execution. ECKEL, pp. 126-127; with all the points revealed by SMITH, Part II, p. 49.

Seller: Long Brothers Fine & Rare Books, ABAA, Seattle, WA, U.S.A.