DICKENS, CHARLES
Master Humphrey's Clock. London: Chapman and Hall, 1840-41. First edition in weekly parts, 88 parts in original wrappers, housed in a folding cloth case. 10 1/2 x 7 inches (27 x 18.5 cm); with front matter (title, preface and frontispieces) to parts 26, 52 and 88. An unrestored example from the collection of Dickens collector Harvey C. Knowles (bookplate to box). Scattered foxing, small stains, ownership signatures, creases or small tears, a good set.
Dickens, desiring to get his works into the hands of his readers at a shorter interval than monthly parts allowed, attempted Master Humphrey's Clock as a weekly but as readership diminished found it quite tedious. In part 83, he reports to his readers that he finds preparing the weekly "anxious, perplexing and difficult" but reassures the reader that "to commune with you, in any form, is a labour of love." The weekly issue of Master Humphrey's Clock is scarcer than the monthly. Eckel p. 67; Hatton & Cleaver p. 163.