MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK [In Three Volumes]

1840. With Illustrations by George Cattermole and Hablot Browne. London: Chapman and Hall, 1840/-41/-41. Original blind-stamped purple-brown cloth with gilt-decorated spines and front covers.

First Editions in book form of THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP (all of Vol I plus pp 1-223 of Vol II), and of BARNABY RUDGE (pp 229-306 of Vol II plus all of Vol III). After NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, Dickens decided that all his future novels would be issued as loosely-connected tales presented by one Master Humphrey; furthermore, serialization would be weekly, and with illustrations printed within the text rather than on separate plates. MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK was initially issued in 88 weekly parts (each being one folded leaf, with no stitching) -- with every four or five parts also grouped into 20 monthly parts (stitched, within wrappers); the three volumes in cloth were accordingly published separately, at intervals of about seven months. Simultaneous with the publication of Vol III, MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK was divided and issued as two separate one-volume novels -- at which time Dickens gave up on the experiment, and reverted to the old formula (monthly serial parts, with separate plates) for MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT and subsequent novels. This set is in the primary (and usual) binding, with the gilt front cover clock whose hands point to the appropriate volume number. Subscribers to serial parts could have them bound into this "original publisher's cloth" at a multitude of places, so variations of endpapers and edges are many. We have seen copies of MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK with several variations of endpapers: light coffee-brown, plain white, pale yellow, and (as here) white with blue and red marbling. As with some but not all copies with marbled endpapers, this copy has the same marbling on the page edges -- perhaps the most sought-after variant. The condition of the volumes is near-fine, the only notable defect being very slight wear at most of the spine ends; there is minor fading at the top of the Vol III front cover (where a shorter book undoubtedly once stood), but the spines themselves exhibit less than the usual amount of fading. The delicate endpapers are intact, and there is scarcely any foxing within. Each front paste-down bears a 1912 Dickens Centennial stamp that collectors -- led very publicly by the Royal Family -- were encouraged to put into their Dickens books; priced at a penny each, the purchase of these stamps provided income to some Dickens descendants who, it had come to light, were eking by on tiny government pensions (since Dickens's works were no longer providing copyright income). Smith I pp 44-57.