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DOMBEY AND SON.
(Philadelphia: Lea and Blanchard, 1848). 240 x 150 mm. (9 3/8 x 6"). viii, [1] leaf (list of plates), 9-320 pp. Second American Editio in book form.
Publisher's blind-stamped dark brown cloth, smooth spine with gilt title and pictorial vignette. Frontispiece, engraved title page, and 38 wood-engraved plates by Gilbert Gihon after H. K. Browne (Phiz). Front pastedown with early ink ownership inscription of "Edna D. Petus Jr., Boston." Litvack 65; Podeschi A109. See also George Hodder, Memories of my Time, p. 277. Head and tail of spine a bit chipped, lower corners bumped and exposed, minor areas of soiling to the cloth, but the original binding entirely solid, rather bright, and not at all displeasing. A handful of the plates rather toned, occasional isolated spots to the text, but still an excellent copy, internally quite clean and fresh.
This is an excellent copy of an early American Dickens edition, in its original cloth binding. "Dombey and Son" is Dickens' first novel to show the emptiness of the London commercial world, a melodramatic story of an austere and arrogant merchant whose life falls apart, only to be rescued in the end by reconciliation with his saintly estranged daughter. Thackeray, whose famous "Vanity Fair" was issued at almost the same time as "Dombey," is full of admiration for the writing of his considerable rival. He says of the heartbreaking death of Dombey's prized son Paul in Part V: "There's no writing against such power as this--one has no chance, it is stupendous." "Dombey" was serialized by Bradbury and Evans in London between October 1846 and August 1848, and that publisher brought out an edition in a single volume later that same year. Litvack writes that our edition is the second American edition in book form; both the present Philadelphia edition and the earlier New York edition were unauthorized. Unrestored copies of American editions of Dickens in the original cloth are very seldom found in appealing condition, as here. (ST16660cC)
Price: $450.00