Master Humphrey's Clock Charles Dickens Other Fiction,Other Fine Bindings

This is a finely bound, three-volume first edition. The binding is contemporary, 19th century diced brown calf, the covers featuring gilt rule borders, the spines featuring raised, gilt-decorated bands separating five compartments, the 1st, 3rd and 5th featuring extensive gilt tooling, the 2nd and 4th printed, respectively, with the title and volume number on darker brown calf labels. The contents of each volume are bound with silk head and foot bands, all edges gilt, and marbled endpapers. The first edition contents are collated complete. H. K. Browne ("Phiz") and and George Cattermole prepared illustrations for this work, which were engraved on wood by E. Landells, C. Gray, Vasey, and S. Williams and integrated into the text. There is also a single illustration each prepared by Daniel Maclise and Samuel Williams. Most of the figure pieces were done by Browne, while Cattermole was entrusted with the architectural subjects. All small misprints ("Internal flaws") called for by Smith (I, 6., pp.49-55) are present.Condition is very good. Each volume has been very neatly and unobtrusively rebacked, retaining the original spines. We note moderate wear to the edges of the boards, joints, and spine ends, modest spine rubbing, and minor small scuffs and blemishes to the boards. The contents show no previous ownership marks. Age-toning is light, as is spotting, which is primarily confined to the first and final leaves, otherwise scant and intermittent within. The gilt page edges remain bright. Each volume is protected beneath a clear, removable mylar cover.Master Humphrey s Clock was originally published in 88 weekly numbers spanning 4 April 1840 to 27 November 1841. After the monthly parts, Master Humphrey s Clock was issued thus, in three volumes, the first volume published mid-October 1840, the second on mid-April 1841, the third mid-December 1841.In Master Humphrey s Clock, Dickens (1812-1870), not yet 30, was experimenting. He originally set out to write a series of shifting stories and characters centered around Master Humphrey, an old man with a longcase antique clock, and his coterie of friends and their manuscripts. What began as an intended series of stories became instead two different, successive, serialized novels contained within the framework of the Master Humphrey conception. "Initial sales were very large but quickly declined when the public realized theClockwas not to be a continuous story." Dickens quickly adapted, developing one of a series of intended stories into a full-length story "and this, under the titleThe Old Curiosity Shop, soon took over the entire publication . By the end of the story's serialization in theClock(6 February 1841) the circulation had reached a phenomenal 100,000 copies. "TheShopwas immediately succeeded in theClockby the long projectedBarnaby Rudge,Dickens'sfirst historical novel, dealing with the anti-CatholicGordonriots of 1780 and written in conscious emulation ofScott, which saw out the rest of the serial installments." Concurrent with publication of the third and final volume of Master Humphrey s Clock, The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge were published as separate novels in mid-December 1841, each in one volume.Reference: Smith I, 6; ODNB