PAVED WITH GOLD or The Romance and Reality of the London Streets
- 1857
1857. [13 serial parts, FINE] An Unfashionable Novel. With Illustrations by H.K. Browne. [In thirteen monthly serial parts.] London: Chapman and Hall, March 1857 - March 1858. Original cream-colored printed wrappers.
First Edition, complete in the 13 monthly serial parts. Per the sub-title, this is a novel of the London streets, specifically of boys drawn into lives of crime (Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger come to mind). Augustus and Henry Mayhew were journalists and novelists, perhaps best known for their 1840s co-editorship of the humor periodical Punch, but by the 1850s both (especially Henry) were more into social reform. It is interesting to note that while the front wrapper of the first five parts reads "By The Brothers Mayhew," in the final eight parts is inserted (between "By" and "The") "Augustus Mayhew | one of". This was because during this serialization, brother Henry veered off to concentrate on his own related work of nonfiction, "London Labour and London Poor." Included in each part are two plates by Hablot K. Browne ["Phiz"] -- some of them "dark plates" that were now possible, thanks to a new process. Browne's illustrations are very appropriate, bearing headings such as "Philip at the Pauper School," "A Midnight Picnic," "The Tramps," and "The Fight in the Vagrant Ward." Included are ALL of the ads and slips and preliminary leaves specified by Wolff; in fact, this set includes additional leaves in Parts VI and XII. Condition of the thirteen parts is just about FINE: there is a small ink mark in the upper margin of Part VIII's front and rear wrapper, and the two plates in Part I have some marginal foxing. In all, the set is remarkably clean and intact, and in about half of the parts, the leaves are still unopened. Housed in a cloth clamshell case. Wolff 4683 (his Part XIII reverts to "The Brothers Mayhew" on the front wrapper, but in this set Part XIII is uniform with Parts VI-XII). Serial parts of a Mayhew novel are MUCH scarcer than parts by a major author like Dickens.
First Edition, complete in the 13 monthly serial parts. Per the sub-title, this is a novel of the London streets, specifically of boys drawn into lives of crime (Oliver Twist and the Artful Dodger come to mind). Augustus and Henry Mayhew were journalists and novelists, perhaps best known for their 1840s co-editorship of the humor periodical Punch, but by the 1850s both (especially Henry) were more into social reform. It is interesting to note that while the front wrapper of the first five parts reads "By The Brothers Mayhew," in the final eight parts is inserted (between "By" and "The") "Augustus Mayhew | one of". This was because during this serialization, brother Henry veered off to concentrate on his own related work of nonfiction, "London Labour and London Poor." Included in each part are two plates by Hablot K. Browne ["Phiz"] -- some of them "dark plates" that were now possible, thanks to a new process. Browne's illustrations are very appropriate, bearing headings such as "Philip at the Pauper School," "A Midnight Picnic," "The Tramps," and "The Fight in the Vagrant Ward." Included are ALL of the ads and slips and preliminary leaves specified by Wolff; in fact, this set includes additional leaves in Parts VI and XII. Condition of the thirteen parts is just about FINE: there is a small ink mark in the upper margin of Part VIII's front and rear wrapper, and the two plates in Part I have some marginal foxing. In all, the set is remarkably clean and intact, and in about half of the parts, the leaves are still unopened. Housed in a cloth clamshell case. Wolff 4683 (his Part XIII reverts to "The Brothers Mayhew" on the front wrapper, but in this set Part XIII is uniform with Parts VI-XII). Serial parts of a Mayhew novel are MUCH scarcer than parts by a major author like Dickens.
Details
Title
PAVED WITH GOLD or The Romance and Reality of the London Streets
Author
Mayhew, Augustus "(one of the Brothers Mayhew)
Condition
Unknown
Date
1857