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VERY RARE - SCARCE EDITION, TRUE FIRST EDITION/RARE FIRST PRINTING, VERY GOOD 3/4 MOROCCO LEATHER and MARBLED BOARDS BINDING, 40 STEEL ENGRAVED PLATES, BLEAK HOUSE, by CHARLES DICKENS, LONDON: Bradbury and Evans. 1853. TRUE FIRST EDITION. FIRST PRINTING. First issue-first state. 1st Printing . 8vo. 9.0" x 6.0" Inches. (LxB). With the half-title, frontispiece, vignette title, Pp. [v], viii-xvi + [1]-624 pages. This copy is from the first printing, with "compu" on page 19 & "chair" for "hair" on page 209. With 40 inserted plates (ten dark plates) including frontispiece with tissue guard and vignette title by H.K. Browne. Bound from the original parts, with stab holes visible at the inner margins, with the Bradbury & Evans imprint on the title & vignette title (later changed to Chapman & Hall). (Eckel 80-81; Podeschi 130-1). Bound in fine original 3/4 morocco leather over marbled boards, gilt stamped spine with 5 raised bands. This title is considered by many to be Dickens's masterpiece, one of the greatest novels ever written in the English language. Although, on its face, BLEAK HOUSE is a satiric indictment of the British court system, Dickens's brush is much broader than that. BLEAK HOUSE is about the mistreatment of children, the hypocrisy of the upper classes, false charity, and vain hopes. It is filed with mystery, satire, suspense, pathos, and intrigue. A classic work. Complete as issued. This is a rare book in the original 3/4 morocco leather binding, over marbled boards, some minor wear/tear/scuffing/chipping to covers, spine, ends & corners, pages with minor age toning are mostly clean & bright, the plates with mostly marginal foxing-browning Note: The plates with mostly marginal foxing-browning, heavy to additional title and frontispiece, small bookplate on the front pastedown.

Bleak House is a novel by Charles Dickens, originally published as a serial between March 1852 and September 1853. It is considered one of his finest works, containing a vast, complex plot and an extraordinary number of characters.