The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit.

DICKENS, Charles.

$1,850.00

Item Number: 139459

London: London: Chapman and Hall, 1839.

First edition of the last of Dickens’ picaresque novels. Octavo, bound in full pebbled morocco with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, elaborate gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, all edges gilt, inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, illustrated with by “Phiz” with  40 plates.  With a clipped signature of the dedicatee, Angela Burdett-Coutts laid in. The dedicatee, Angela Burdett-Coutts became one of the wealthiest women in England in 1837 when she inherited her grandfather’s fortune of around £1.8 million following the death of her stepgrandmother, Harriot Beauclerk, Duchess of St Albans. She spent the majority of her wealth on scholarships, endowments, and a wide range of philanthropic causes. One of her earliest philanthropic acts was to co-found (with Charles Dickens) a home for young women who had “turned to a life of immorality” including theft and prostitution. The home was known as Urania Cottage. In very good condition.

The last of Dickens’ picaresque novels, The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit was originally serialized between 1843 and 1844. Dickens thought it to be his best work and William Boyd proclaimed it "Dickens' funniest novel." Like nearly all of Dickens's novels, Martin Chuzzlewit was first published in monthly instalments. Early sales of the monthly parts were lower than those of previous works, so Dickens changed the plot to send the title character to the United States. He satirized the country as a place filled with self-promoting hucksters, eager to sell land sight unseen. The novels main characters include two of Dickens's great villains, Seth Pecksniff and Jonas Chuzzlewit.