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A CHILD'S HISTORY OF ENGLAND.
(London: Bradbury & Evans, 1852-54). 155 x 120 mm. (6 1/8 x 4 3/4"). Three volumes. FIRST EDITION in Book Form.
Very pleasing polished calf by Morrell (stamp-signed on verso of front flyleaf), covers with a French fillet border with rosette cornerpieces, raised bands, spine gilt in compartments with floral tools surrounded by a diamond of small stars with volute cornerpieces, red and green morocco labels with gilt lettering, turn-ins densely gilt with floral scrolls, top edge gilt. Original gilt cloth bindings bound in. Each volume with a frontispiece by F. W. Topham. Front pastedown with the ex-libris of Ellen O'Neil Logan. Volume one half-title with ink inscription: "Florence Emily Lewis / Evelyn Waite Hauchen(?) / from / her Godmama E. M. L. / 1858." Volume three half-title faintly inscribed: "Rosalie Burke / From her Papa / [illegible] 1852." Eckel, pp. 128-30; Podeschi A-128. David Paroissien, "History and Change: Dickens and the Past," in "The Oxford Handbook of Charles Dickens," pp. 484-99. Volume I with a narrow brown stain on upper cover, a few light cover scuffs, perhaps just a hint of wear to corners, but the bindings quite handsome and very well preserved. First volume with two small tears (not affecting text), trivial spots, otherwise entirely clean and fresh internally. A very pretty set.
In an elegantly simple binding, this is Dickens' only work of history, which shows the same reforming anti-conservatism spirit so apparent in his fiction. The idea for the work was formed when Dickens was disturbed by the positive reception of a speech glorifying England's history at an 1843 fundraising dinner in London. The author wrote to a friend of his fear that his eldest son, Charley, might grow to believe this nostalgic and overly positive version of history. As he wrote to another friend, he determined to write the present work to ensure that his son and other children did not place their "a ections on wrong heros, [sic] or see the bright side of Glory’s sword and know nothing of the rusty one." DNB calls the result "intensely anti-aristocratic and anti-monarchical"; literary scholar David Paroissien writes that by praising and drawing attention to the stories of humbler heroes who challenged the people in power, the work provides "a vigorous corrective to the habit of English sycophancy." The work was originally serialized in Dickens' "Household Words" newspaper from 1851-53, before being issued for the first time in its present form. The pleasing bindings are the work of the London bindery of W. T. Morrell, established about 1861 as successor to the firm begun by Francis Bedford, who, in turn, had taken over the famous bindery of Charles Lewis. Prideaux in her "Modern Bookbindings" says that Morrell at that time had a very large business that supplied "all the booksellers with bindings designed by his men," which were "remarkable for their variety and merit." The inscriptions in our copy suggest that, as Dickens had intended, it was given as a gift to at least two children. The attractive ex-libris indicate that this copy was later in the library of Ellen O'Neil Logan (1884-1977), a St. Louis heiress. (ST20685-1)
Price: $3,000.00