DICKENS, CHARLES
Great Expectations. London: Chapman and Hall, 1861. First edition in book form, first issue with no mention of later editions to title pages. Three volumes. Full blue polished calf by Bayntun, the spines tooled and lettered in gilt with red and green lettering compartments, gilt turn ins, marbled endpapers, a.e.g., slipcase. 7 1/4 x 4 1/2 inches (18.7 x 11.8 cm); 344, 351, 344 pp., bound without ads but with many first state textual points including all those called for by Eckel. Smith gives the book a much larger treatment and this set contains all listed internal flaws including the two points in volume 3 noted as being in Sadleir's copy only (p. 103 without the "3" to the page number, the first "i" missing in "inflexible"). An attractive set. The joint to volume I just starting, a small repair to the final leaf in volume III, small nick to one corner, occasional spotting to first and last leaves, a 1987 letter from the Rare Book Room (NYC) describes finding the set for the collector.
A fine first edition set of Great Expectations, one of only two Dickens novels originally published without illustrations. The first edition of the work is particularly scarce as most were bought up by lending libraries. Smith Charles Dickens in the Original Cloth, p. 101; Eckel p. 91; Gimbel A146; Sadleir 688.