Books

First edition in book form, significantly revising the serialized text. The shortest Dickens novel, Hard Times was also his only work, besides Great Expectations, to first appear without illustrations. The novel was serialized in 20 weekly parts in Household Words between 1 April and 12 August 1854. Bradbury & Evans published this edition on 7 August. Octavo (185 x 120 mm). Finely bound in light brown morocco by Bayntun c.1980, spine with raised bands, compartments lettered and elaborately tooled in gilt, French fillet to covers, gilt inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, edges gilt. Small paper repair at p. 70, else a fine copy. Smith I 11.

Charles Dickens' 'Hard Times' is a critical examination of Victorian industrial society and its impact on human life, depicting harsh realities of the era.