Books

DICKENS, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Original embossed cloth, gilt-pictorial spine. Phila.: Lea and Blanchard, 1844. Gimbel A76. Wilkins, pp. 24-25. Illustrated with 12 plates including frontis. by Phiz. The second American edition, only slightly preceded by book editions by Harper and J. Winchester (the latter not illustrated). The first impression of this edition, with pages 9-12 and with only one group of pages 25-32. Wilkins states that Lea and Blanchard authorized their London agent "to pay for Martin Chuzzlewit double the price that had been paid for Barnaby Rudge and Old Curiosity Ship, but Mr. Dickens refuse to supply the advance sheets, or to permit his publishers to do so. We were therefore obliged to print that work `David Copperfield' and `Dombey & Son' without an arrangement with him." With two ownership signatures of Theodore Chase, Jr., a wealthy collector of music. A fine copy.