[Charles DICKENS].

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Lot n° 19
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[Charles DICKENS].
The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club Containing a Faithful Record of the Perambulations, Perils, Travels, Adventures and Sporting Transactions of the Corresponding Members. Edited by "Boz". With Illustrations. London, Chapman & Hall, April 1836-May 1837. 20 issues in 19 volumes in-8, stapled, green paper covers illustrated, in slipcase. First edition of Dickens' first novel. It appeared in monthly issues, from April 1836 to November 1837. Copy as issued, in twenty monthly issues, with green paper illustrated covers With a print run of 1000 copies, the first issue did not sell well, so the printer halved the print run for the second issue. It was not until the fourth issue - with the introduction of the character of Sam Weller and the plates of Phiz - that the novel won over the English public. This is evidenced by the numerous reprints - twenty for the first four issues in only eighteen months - before stereotyping replaced typographical composition. The bibliographical description of the work is thus an inextricable maze, many copies being made up of heterogeneous print runs. A copy containing all the first printings seems to be unobtainable. Hatton and Cleaver have traced fifteen impeccable copies since 1899, but not one of these happy few has all the marks of the first edition. The illustration includes 43 steel engravings outside the text, of which 7 are by Robert Seymour, 2 by Robert Buss and 34 by Phiz alias Hablot K. Browne. Browne. Although Robert Seymour's compositions inspired Dickens to create the idea for the novel, his contribution was limited to only seven plates due to his premature death. Robert Buss was commissioned to do the rest. His two engravings illustrating the third issue, however, were not to the author's taste. The baton was taken up by the man who was to become Dickens' regular illustrator - Hablot K. Browne alias Phiz. Like most copies, the Kahn collection's copy is composite: while the first six issues contain engravings from the second printing, the vast majority of the following issues show the marks of the first printing. The third issue does contain the engravings of Robert Buss and not those of Phiz, which were made five months later. Furthermore, the present copy contains the advertising pages from issue eleven onwards only, with the exception of Mechi's Catalogue at the end of issue twelve, Pigot's Coloured Views at the head of issue thirteen, which is extremely rare, and the J.J. Dubochet and Co catalogue at the end of issue eighteen. In addition, the two address sheets inserted at the head of issues two and three are missing, as in most copies. All covers are dated 1836 and the twelfth issue is variant B. Good condition inside. Covers faded, with minor chips and restorations. (Hatton & Cleaver, A Bibliography of The Periodical Works of Charles Dickens, 1973, pp. 3-88.)
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