The Works of Charles Dickens [Including: Bleak House; A Tale of Two Cities; David Copperfield; Great Expectations; Oliver Twist; A Christmas Carol; David Copperfield; Dombey & Son; The Old Curiosity Shop; Nicholas Nickleby].

DICKENS, Charles.

Item Number: 3507

London: Chapman & Hall, 1906-1908.

Octavo, 40 volumes, bound in full red morocco bound by Bayntun, with gilt titles and elaborate tooling, blue inlay to the inner and rear panels. This example is finely bound and is extra-illustrated with two autograph letters signed by Charles Dickens. The first letter is to Sir John Bowring. An interesting letter regretting that Dickens did not attend Bowring’s lecture and mentioning his “Falstaff house” and “All the Year Round” and joking with him about taking poison from the Natives. Bowring was a travel writer and the fourth Governor of Hong Kong. Published in Letters of Charles Dickens: 1836-1870, p 180. The second letter is from London, June 13, 1848, to Edward Davis. In which Dickens apologizes for not answering his letter earlier but explains that he has no connection to the Punch office and that his amateur company will not be able to visit Newcastle. Numerous plates throughout including mounted illustrations after George Cruikshank, Hablot K. Browne. An exceptional complete set in near fine condition.

Charles Dickens is generally considered the greatest writer of the Victorian period. His works are characterized by attacks on social evils, injustice, and hypocrisy. "His imaginative freshness, his deep and sincere tenderness and pity, his whole-souled humor that is seldom sharpened into wit, his superabundance of creative energy, have built a deathless niche in the temple of fame for Charles Dickens" (Kunitz & Haycraft, 184).