first edition
1837 · London
by Dickens, Charles
London: Chapman and Hall, 1837. First edition. First edition. Exquisitely bound in full crimson morocco with highly decorative gilt designs and green morocco onlays on cover and spine, gilt designs on back cover by Sangorski & Sutcliffe including alternating gilt busts of Samuel Pickwick and Sam Weller which recur in the spine panels. WITH SUPERB ORIGINAL WATERCOLOR OVAL WATERCOLOR PORTRAIT OF DICKENS inset to inside upper cover, mounted with brass edges, ornate gilt and morocco onlay borders, full morocco doublures and silk-free endpapers. A wonderful and truly imaginative binding. iii]-xiv, [2], 609 pp. Lacking half-title. With 43 engraved plates by Robert Seymour and H.K. Browne. Some scattered light foxing, some fraying to f.f.e.p., wear to margins of spine, expertly rebacked. Housed in a wonderful handmade folding cloth clamshell box with marbled paper interior and gilt red crushed morocco spine with five raised bands and three gilt ornaments by Sean Richards.
(Inventory #: 2938)