The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (Extra Illustrated)

London: Chapman and Hall, 1839. First Edition. Hardcover. Very good. Browne, Hablot K. ['Phiz"]; Meadows, Kenney. First printing, mixed state, octavo size, 707 pp. This was writer Charles Dickens' (1812-1870) third novel, widely anticipated and loved. He is often considered the greatest of the Victorian era novelists, blending drama and comedy into compelling stories. In this novel Dickens explores the social issues that his works are known for, such as, harsh boarding schools, the privilege of royal title and wealth, social customs of the day and the plight of the working class. The plot focuses on the hardships courageously navigated by young Nicholas Nickleby after his father passes away.

The extra illustrations provided were drawn by Joseph Kenny Meadows (1790 - 1874), best known for his drawings published in Punch magazine. He was a friend of Charles Dickens and several other writers of the period. These caricatures add a visual element to the characters depicted by Dickens [n.b. above information from Wiki].

___DESCRIPTION: Half red morocco leather over marbled paper boards, six compartments on spine, five with gilt, title and author in gilt to one compartment, embossed decorative and gilt borders to front and rear boards, all edges marbled, frontis of a young Charles Dickens (supplied), thirty-nine plates by Hablot K. Browne ["Phiz"] and twenty-four plates of various characters in the novel by Kenny Meadows (the extra plates). This is a mixed state in that two of the first four plates have the Chapman and Hall imprint, further, the correction on p.123 has been made, but "latter" for "letter" still appears on p.160, line 43. Octavo size (8 1/2" by 5 1/2 "), [iii-vii] viii-xvi, [1 ] 2-624.

___CONDITION: Overall very good, internally this volume is quite clean, the text block is square, the hinges are sound and the gilt on the spine is bright. Rubbing to front and rear joints, corners rubbed, rubbing and slight loss to marbled papers on front and rear board, both front and rear hinge have been professionally repaired, prior owner bookplate with inscription of "To David from Dad", vintage bookseller stamp and prior owner notes in pencil to the front pastedown, offsetting from turn-ins to front and rear endpapers, 1/8" tear to margin of frontispiece, not affecting the image, lacking the half-title (hence our pagination begins with romanet iii), slight damage to the foredge of plate between pages 174 and 175, not affecting the image, the images have slight toning and foxing which is common. Even with these few flaws, a better than very good copy with extra illustrations by an artist whose work complements that of Phiz and adds interest to the story.

___CITATION: Podeschi A41, Eckel p. 64.

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