Hard Times by Charles Dickens - 1854

London: Bradbury and Evans, 1854. First. Very Good. This is the first edition in book form of Hard Times, which had been serialized in 1854 in Household Words Hard Times ‐ For These Times (commonly known as Hard Times) is Dickens' tenth novel The book surveys English society and satirizes the social and economic conditions of the era
The book is unusual in several ways It is by far the shortest of Dickens′ novels, barely a quarter of the length of those written immediately before and after it Also, unlike all but one of his other novels (Great Expectations), Hard Times has neither a preface nor illustrations Moreover, it is his only novel not to have scenes set in London Instead the story is set in the fictitious Victorian industrial Coketown, a generic Northern English mill‐town, in some ways similar to Manchester, though smaller Coketown may be partially based on 19th‐century Preston
One of Dickens′s reasons for writing Hard Times was that sales of his weekly periodical, Household Words, were low, and it was hoped the novel′s publication in installments would boost circulation ‐ as indeed proved to be the case

Bound in fancy three‐quarter crimson leather with deep red marbled paper for endpapers and over the balance of the boards The materials used for the bindings date the binding work to around 1890 and a bookplate is affixed to the front pastedown, belonging to Julius Franke (1868‐1936) Franke was a prominent New York City architect whose work included designing the Wurlitzer Building, and it seems likely that he commissioned the binding
The book has minor age/wear indications, including shelfwear and rubbing, with minor cracking along the gutter The binding and text block are sound Text is clear and crisp though mild age toning There is a small number stamp and writing ink to the title page An original bookseller′s embossed stamp appears on a preliminary page; ″Ja Sellick / Plymouth″ There are no plates, as issued 352 pp.