[DICKENS, CHARLES]. The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. With Forty Illustrations by Phiz. London: Chapman and Hall, n.d. [c1910].
Hardcover. Reprint. Full leather. Octavo (205 x 140 mm), pp. [xxiv], 676. Exquisite polished tree calf binding (unsigned but probably by Bayntun-Riviere), five raised bands, compartments ruled, lettered and fully decorated in gilt, boards with gilt ruled borders and corner pieces, board edges with gilt ruled lines, inner gilt dentelles, all page edges gilt, psychedelic dyed pastedowns and endpapers, illustrated throughout with thirty-eight plates by Phiz plus frontispiece and engraved title-page. Condition: FINE. Binding secure, covers and contents clean, neat inscription to fep. Exquisite.
Notes: A beautifully bound edition of this Dickens classic; 'Martin Chuzzlewit' is considered the last of his picaresque novels, and was written and serialized in 1843-1844; initial sales of the monthly parts were disappointing, compared to the authors' previous works, so Dickens changed the plot to send the title character to America. This allowed him to portray America, which he had recently visited, as a near wilderness, whose pockets of civilization were filled with deceptive and self-promoting hucksters. The main theme of the novel is selfishness, which is portrayed in a satirical fashion using all the members of the Chuzzlewit family. The novel is also notable for one of Dickens' great villains, Seth Pecksniff, whose rise and fall follows the arc of the novel's plot.
