DICKENS, CHARLES
A Tale of Two Cities. With illustrations by H.K. Browne. London: Chapman & Hall, 1859. First Edition, first issue, with the primary point that page 213 is misnumbered 113. Complete in the original 8 parts in 7, original blue wrappers, as issued, housed in a cloth-backed case. 8 3/4 x 5 5/8 (22 x 14 cm); 16 plates, including the engraved frontispiece and title. These are in an early state, with the engraved text entirely legible and not badly worn (the edition was quite large, and in many copies these plates in particular show heavy wear). The backstrips are present, though they appear to have been carefully lifted and laid down and exhibit other minor restorations. The edge of the upper wrapper of part V shows some darkening along the gutter margin. There is some slight chipping at the edges of the wrappers. The plates in part II are spotted.
This set has all wrappers and has the primary issue point, the misnumbered page 213. Parts I, II, III, IV and VI all contain the preliminary 8-page Tale of Two Cities Advertiser, but this is lacking from the fifth and from the final part. The terminal ads are present in all parts, as delineated by Hatton and Cleaver; part I has the rare "Morisonian Monument" ad, and VII/VIII the Cornhill Magazine ad. Also present are the yellow slip in part I announcing the discontinuance of Household Words and the white leaf in Part VI announcing "The First Volume of All the Year Round" (Hatton and Cleaver: "...should be present in all copies of the last number that have pretence to first issue in original state"). Hatton and Cleaver p. 333.