Books

1844. .. [in the original cloth] With Illustrations by Phiz. London: Chapman and Hall, 1844. Original blind-stamped diagonally-ribbed blue cloth. First Edition in book form, published immediately at the conclusion of the 20-in-19 monthly serial parts (issued from January 1843 through July 1844). MARTIN CHUZZLEWIT marks Dickens's return to conventional serial parts, with separate plates, followed by a single octavo volume (as with NICHOLAS NICKLEBY in 1839); since then, he had tried weekly parts composed of a single illustrated folded sheet (MASTER HUMPHREY'S CLOCK, consisting of both THE OLD CURIOSITY SHOP and BARNABY RUDGE, published all-together in book form in three oversized volumes). CHUZZLEWIT was the first of Dickens's novels to lose readers during serialization; when the publisher Hall accordingly suggested Dickens's fees should be reduced (though it never happened), it created a rift that was not bridged until Chapman and Hall published A TALE OF TWO CITIES in 1859.…