DICKENS, Charles. Illustrations by H.K. Browne.
Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son, Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation.
“Time, consoler of affliction and softener of anger”: First edition in the scarce original parts of Charles Dickens' Dombey and Son
London: Bradbury & Evans, 1846-48.
$2,500.00
In Stock
Item Number: RRB-149076
* Custom Clamshell Boxes are hand made by the Harcourt Bindery upon request and take approximately 60 days to complete
First edition in the scarce original parts of Dickens tale of the fortunes of the Dombey shipping firm. Octavo, 20 parts in 19, original wrappers, with 40 etchings by Halbot Knight Brown, containing all advertisements as issued. A mixed state set with the following points: Part I with no ads on inner front wrapper, rear wrapper blank (all other parts with called for ads on wrappers); twelve-line errata slip present in Part V, "delight" for "joy" twice on page 284; "Captain" on last line of page 324; page 426, “if” is not present on line 9; on page 431, the page number is not present, which marks it as the earliest issue. In very good condition. Housed in a custom cloth chemise and slipcase. Scarce and desirable.
Dombey and Son "was well received by its readers, and is considered to be the first novel that reflects Dickens's artistic maturity… Dickens told his first biographer, 'It was to do with Pride what its predecessor [Martin Chuzzlewit] has done with Selfishness" (Schlicke, 280). The work "has a sense of the numinous, is more profoundly touched by the sense of last things, than any of Dickens' previous novels. It is larger in conception, so that human life is seen in terms of its beginning and its end, so that grief and forgiveness become more powerful forces within it… Dickens is aware of its status as art and provides here a simulacrum of human life touched by majesty and purpose" (Ackroyd, 526). The original serials contain the first of Browne's "dark plates" ("On the dark Road," in part 18), created by the engraver's lining machine and roulettes that tint the etched plate, creating heightened contrast (Johannsen, Phiz, 309).
Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son, Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation.
$2,500.00
In Stock
