The Works of Charles Dickens.

DICKENS, Charles.

Item Number: 2659

New York: R.G. Newbegin Company, 1902.

Octavo, 60 volumes. One of only fifteen copies of this definitive edition, this being number five. Original full crimson morocco with turquoise onlays and elaborate gilt tooling to the front and rear panels of each volume. Titles and tooling to the spine in gilt. All edges gilt. Full green leather doublures with elaborate gilt and onlay work and matching moire silk endsheets. Tipped into Volume 1 is a 13 line autographed letter signed by Dickens on Gads Hill stationery, which was his country home. Each volume is heavily illustrated and is extra-illustrated with two or three hand water-colored original drawings by ‘Kyd’ (Joseph Clayton Clarke), who is by far the most famous Dickens illustrator and widely collected in his own right. An exemplary set. Very light joint wear to a few volumes, one joint with a small loss to the head of the spine. Overall in very fine condition. For the discriminating Dickens collector, this is the set to have.

Dickens is generally considered the greatest writer of the Victorian period. His works are charactericized by attacks on social evils, unjustice, and hypocrisy.