Hard Times For These Times.

DICKENS, Charles.

Item Number: 15011

London: Bradbury & Evans, 1854.

First edition in book form of Dickens’ attack on the conditions of life in England’s industrial cities. Octavo, bound in early 20th century full red morocco. Gilt titles and tooling to the spine, triple gilt ruled to the front and rear panels, inner dentelles, top edge gilt. In near fine condition. A very nice presentation.

Hard Times focuses on the inadequacy of a lifestyle that emphasizes only the human intellect at the expense of the imagination and “the heart.” Dickens also attacked the conditions of life in England’s industrial cities, which produced the wealth that made his country the foremost industrial power in the mid-19th century— but at a great cost to human happiness. Hard Times was viewed as a departure from the author’s previous tales, presenting what was to become an increasingly somber picture of contemporary society in Dickens’ works. Eckel, 131. Gimbel A136. Smith I: 11.