Dickens, Charles

Bleak House [ In Parts ]

London: Bradbury and Evans, March 1852 to September 1853.  20 parts in 19, 8vo (8 1/2 x 5 1/2 inches). Half-title. Engraved frontispiece, additional engraved title and 38 engraved plates by Hablot K. Browne ["Phiz"]. Original blue pictorial printed wrappers, uncut. A little loss to spine ends of parts 5, 9, 11, 12, 13, 16, 17, and 18; the edges are lightly worn and/or repaired; contemporary owners’ signatures to upper covers of parts 8, 9, 13, and 18; little soiling to covers of part 9; tear repaired on cover of part 19-20. In slipcase with leather spine and marbled sides.

FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL MONTHLY PARTS, with the “Bleak House Advertiser” in all parts. Part 1: with the 4-page ad for “Waterlow & Sons” at the rear, not one of the three 8-page variants, uncut pages in ad for “Norton’s” at rear; Part 2: there are 8 pages, rather than 7, of ads for “Adam & Charles Black” at the rear; Part 3: no point after “III” on upper cover, the plates are foxed, with version 2 of the “Crochet Cotton” slip; Part 4: the plates are foxed around the edges; Part 5: plates browned around the edges; Part 6: slip for Charles Lever’s New Serial at rear on yellow paper, the “Crochet Cotton” slip on thin white paper printed in black, plates browed at edges; Part 7: slip for “Household Words” precedes plates, the plates are fresh and clean; Part 8: the plates are fresh and clean; Part 9: slip follows plate to explain the absence of the missing illustration; Part 9: the plates are browned; Part 10: the slip for “Household Words” bound in upside down; Part 11: includes mauve slip for “Handley Cross,” the plates are browned; Part 12: the plates are a little spotted at the edges; Part 13: includes the mauve slip for “Handley Cross” and the ad for “Grace Aguilar’s Works”; Part 14: includes ad for “New Geographical Educational Works,” slip for “Ali Ahmed’s” on dark green paper, slip for “Johnston” on pink paper; Part 15: includes the 8-page slip for “The Village Pastor”; Part 16: includes the ad for “Grace Aguilar’s Works”; Part 17: slip for “Thomas Anderson & Son” inserted before the “Bleak House Advertiser”; Part 18: with two of the “dark” plates; Parts 19-20: have the slip for “The Newcomes” on yellow paper. Hatton & Cleaver, pp. 273-304

Dickens’ ninth novel is a brilliant satire on the legal profession, with one of its subplots concerning the interminable case of Jarndyce and Jarndyce. It also features one of the first important detectives in English literature: Inspector Bucket.

 

Item #144169

Price: $4,000.00