DICKENS, Charles.

£1,750 · Offered by Peter Harrington · No longer available

Dombey and Son. First edition, bound from the original parts, in the publisher's primary cloth binding. The novel is "now recognized as one of the greatest of all his works... It is also the first one to have an explicitly contemporary setting" (ODNB).Following issue in parts from September 1846 to March 1848, Bradbury and Evans issued the novel in book form in the present cloth. In the 19th number of the part issue, a slip advertised the novel, ready for delivery on 12 April, at £1 1s. in cloth, or £1 4s. 6d in half morocco. The slip goes on to note "Subscribers desirous of having their copies bound in a similar style can have them done by Messrs. Chapman & Hall, 186, Strand, or through their Booksellers, at the following prices:- Whole bound, morocco gilt edges 6s. 6d. Half bound, marble leaves, 4[s.] 6[d]. In cloth, lettered 1[s.] 6[d]". This copy represents an owner of the parts making use of these binding services, with the characteristic stab-holes in the gutter where unstitched from the wrappers. At such a reduced price (1s. 6d compared to £1 1s for a new copy in cloth), it is evident why an owner of a complete set in parts would prefer having them bound, rather than purchasing a new book-form copy.For Dickens's novels, the publisher kept a stock of first edition sheets, and bound up copies and issued them over time as demand required. So too, owners of the parts could make use of the binding services long after publication. Changes in the cloth design over time allow

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