CHARLES DICKENS FIRST EDITIONS AT
ASH RARE BOOKS
43 HURON ROAD
LONDON SW17 8RE
UNITED KINGDOM

London : Chapman & Hall, 1840-1841. First edition, in book form, bound from the original parts, of both “The Old Curiosity Shop” and “Barnaby Rudge” . The book was never reprinted in this form, and even unsold copies were cannibalised (within weeks of issue) to make separate books of the two titles we know today. “I am conscious that my pen winces a little even while I write these words. But it was done, and wisely done; and ‘Master Humphrey’s Clock’, as originally constructed, became one of the lost books of the earth, – which, we all know, are far more precious than any that can be read for love or money” (Charles Dickens, in 1848). A specimen wrapper from both the weekly and monthly issue of the parts is preserved at the rear of each volume.
Three volumes, bound in two. Royal 8vo (252 x 164mm). [2],iv,306; vi,306; vi,426pp. Frontispieces and illustrations by George Cattermole, Hablot Knight Browne (“Phiz”), etc. Bound in an elegant mid-Victorian half tan polished calf, banded and gilt; marbled sides and edges; very faintly rubbed; a few very minor signs of age and use; rear hinge of the thicker volume with neat internal reinforcement; a very good, crisp and handsome set.

£750

To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 40031 – or simply click on the button

London : Bradbury & Evans, 1848. First edition, in book form, bound from the original monthly parts published between October 1846 and April 1848. Dickens’ telling tale of father and son, father and daughter – when the fifth instalment appeared, Thackeray – himself in the middle of serialising “Vanity Fair” – exclaimed “There’s no writing against such power as this – no one has a chance! Read that chapter describing young Paul’s death: it is unsurpassed – it is stupendous”. This copy exhibits the dropped “if” on p.426 – a point of no proven significance, any more than all the other errors and minor variations said to indicate a mythical “first issue” – in particular the depiction of Captain Cuttle’s hook on the wrong arm in the title-page vignette. There are no copies depicting it on the correct arm. See the Not Peevish post of 20th December 2013, on the “Bookhunter on Safari” blog.
Demy 8vo (210 x 131mm). xvi,624pp. Etched frontispiece, extra-title and thirty-eight plates by “Phiz” (H. K. Browne). Bound up, without errata leaf or half-title, in a contemporary olive half calf, marbled sides, now neatly rebacked, retaining the original red label; endpapers replaced; some minor scuffing and wear; some browning and spotting to plates, mainly to margins, but overall a good and sound copy.

£250

To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 40829 – or simply click on the button

London : Bradbury & Evans, 1854. First edition. “What I want is, Facts. Teach these boys and girls nothing but Facts ...”. The book edition appeared a week before the completion of the serialisation in “Household Words”.
Crown 8vo (183 x 121mm). viii,352pp. Bound, complete with half-title, in an elegant late nineteenth-century half sealskin, banded and gilt; marbled sides, edges and endpapers; a few internal slight marks and spots, but overall a very good and attractive copy. With the attractive bookplate of A. Muriel Ritchie. Smith 11.

SOLD

London : Herbert Jenkins, [1948]. Originally published obscurely in 1868, ostensibly by Lieut.-Col. Robin Redforth, aged nine, but here superbly illustrated for the first time by Robert Stewart Sherriffs (1906-1960). “One of the best children’s stories ever written, and the children that do not know it or have never had it read to them, have a special treat in store”.
Foolscap 4to (22cm). (viiii),[ii],(36),[ii]pp. Colour illustrations throughout by Sherriffs. Original red cloth, lettered in gilt; top edge red; endpapers lightly tanned, but otherwise a very good copy in the Sherriffs dust-jacket – the jacket lightly tanned at spine, with repair and reinforcement at head and tail, but complete and attractive still.

£40

To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 46385 – or simply click on the button

London : W. H. Allen & Co., 1887. First edition. An interesting study and possible solution to 'The Mystery of Edwin Drood', supplied by the prolific writer on astronomy, mathematics, etc.
Crown 8vo (19cm). viii,166,[ii] + (48)pp advertisements dated December 1887. Extra engraved title-page. Original decorative cloth gilt; spine slightly tanned; slight wear to tips; endpapers cracking; a little shaken and slack, but a clean and serviceable copy. With the ex-libris label of the well known doctor-cum-actor, Eric John Llewellyn Jones-Evans (1898-1989), and the earlier dated February 1888 ownership inscription of A. M. Heathcote of Winchester – Arthur Malcolm Heathcote (1847-1934), publisher, author of verse plays for children, reciter, entertainer, etc. Loosely inserted is a stamped and receipted 1935 invoice from the booksellers H. M. Gilbert & Son of Southampton to Dr. Jones-Evans.

£50

To purchase, call us or e-mail us at books@ashrare.com quoting stock number 39498 – or simply click on the button