THE POSTHUMOUS PAPERS OF THE PICKWICK CLUB.
- London: Chapman and Hall, 1837.
- 8vo.
- full crushed black morocco with gilt borders and ornamentation on boards, gilt decorations on spine with five raised bands, leather turn-ins with gilt, marbled endsheets, all edges gilt
- xvi, 609 pages, with numerous plates bound-in
Price: $1,500.00 other currencies
Order Nr. 140607
First edition in book, mixed issue points but containing the name "Tony Veller" on the signboard on the engraved title page (Smith I.3.). Private bookplate of Frederic William Bois on front pastedown. Preliminary pages lightly foxed, with some of the preliminary plates showing moderate foxing. This copy is an extra-illustrated copy with 86 total plates bound-in by Phiz (i.e. Hablot Knight Brown), Robert Seymour, as well as one of the two supressed Robert William Buss plates. A beautiful copy.
The serial was originally intended to be primarily a vehicle for the cartoons of Robert Seymour, until he died by suicide after the first number was published. Robert William Buss then took over, but he was inexperienced in steel engraving and had to be replaced. The final choice, Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"), was to be Dickens's chosen collaborator for the next two decades.
Very uncommon to find with a plate by Robert William Buss.