The Old Curiosity Shop. by DICKENS, Charles - 1842

Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard,, 1842. Inscribed by the author during his visit to the United States Second US edition in book form, inscribed by the author on his first visit to America on the title page: "George Morris from Charles Dickens New York. First June 1842". The recipient was the noted American journalist and poet George Pope Morris (1802-1864), editor and founder of various papers including the New-York Mirror and Ladies' Literary Gazette, which published the writings of many of the best authors of the day including Washington Irving, Edgar Allan Poe, and Dickens himself. Dickens had first met Morris earlier that February, writing to his friend John Forster that at a grand ball in New York he was "waited upon" by Morris "in the full dress uniform of Heaven knows what regiment of militia", most probably in his role as Brigadier-General in the New York State Militia (Letters, Pilgrim Edition, vol. III, p. 71). On 1 June 1842, Dickens inscribed to Morris six known copies of his books, all once offered together in the Rosenbach catalogue of English Literature in November 1913, and since dispersed. Dickens's US visit was by no means successful, as the author was furious at the piracy of his works by American publishers, and his public criticism of their practices led to the condemnation of Dickens by various newspapers. He nonetheless gathered material which he worked into his survey of the country, American Notes, published later that year. The Old Curiosity Shop (which includes Master Humphrey's Clock) was first published in the US in serial form from 1840 to 1841, with the first edition in book form published later in 1841. Provenance: Sotheby's, 24 November 1927, sold to the noted Dickens' collector the Comte Alain de Suzannet (with his bookplate to the front pastedown and inner chemise); sold in his sale at Sotheby's, 22 November 1971, lot 59; sold by J & S Graphics, Inc in their Catalogue number 16, 1973; subsequently in the acclaimed Dickens' collections of Kenyon Starling (bookplate to front pastedown); and William E. Self (ditto), sold in Self's sale at Christie's New York, 4 February 2008, lot 78; and again at the Sotheby's sale of the Lawrence Drizen Charles Dickens Collection, 24 September 2019, lot 78. Octavo. Original brown cloth, spine lettered with vignette in gilt, covers blocked in blind, plain endpapers. Housed in a custom green half morocco slipcase and chemise. Additional title-page for Master Humphrey's clock, engraved frontispiece, title, and 8 plates after George Cattermole, Hablot K. Browne and Thomas Sibson, numerous woodcut illustrations throughout text. Lightly rubbed, some minor browning, a couple of gatherings a little sprung. A very good copy. Smith, Charles Dickens: A Bibliography of His First American Editions, p. 166.