[DICKENS, CHARLES]. Master Humphrey’s Clock. London: Chapman and Hall, 1840-1841.
FIRST EDITION IN BOOK FORM. Complete in three volumes; leather-bound; hardcover; tall octavo (26 x 17 cm.); pp. iv, 306; vi, 306; vi, 426. English text, with 3 wood-engraved frontispieces and prolific wood-engraved illustrations in the text, the majority by H. K. Browne ("Phiz"), with contributions by George Cattermole, Samuel Williams, and Daniel Maclise. Bound in handsome contemporary half calf gilt; marbled paper-covered boards; marbled page edges. Printed in Great Britain by Bradbury and Evans. Condition: VERY GOOD. Bindings tight and secure, the hinges and joints intact. Covers well-preserved with some light rubbing to boards and extremities. Interiors largely fresh and clean. Without previous ownership markings. A handsome set.
Notes: Ray notes that Phiz (H. K. Browne) "is in excellent form" and that George Cattermole's "wonderful clutter of antiquarian or architectural detail is well suited to Dickens's chosen subjects". Master Humphrey's Clock was a publishing experiment on Dickens's part, unique in his canon, of issuing two novels together: The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge. The publication was issued in three forms, in weekly parts, monthly parts, and the present book form. Eckel, p. 67 ff; Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England from 1790 to 1914, 60; Smith, I, 6.
