DICKENS, CHARLES. The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club. 2 volumes bound from the original parts. 43 engraved plates by Phiz, Seymour, and Buss, as called for an extra-illustrated with more than 180 additional illustrations including 30 original watercolors, 24 of which are by F. W. Pailthorpe, plus 40 hand-colored engravings by Alfred Crowquill (pseud. of A. H. Forrester), 60 additional engraved plates, and an autograph letter initialed by dickens and two checks signed by him, plus additional correspondence to him as outlined in the note below. Thick 8vo, chocolate brown morocco, gilt-lettered spines, and brown and green morocco gilt doublures in Grolieresque style, by Tout, minor scuffs to spines; original wrappers bound in, scattered light foxing and soiling, one repaired clean tear to final leaf. London: Chapman & Hall, 1837
an extraordinary set bound with dickensiana and profusely extra-illustrated. Each volume contains a specially printed preliminary leaf detailing the contents. These include: 24 original watercolors by Pailthorpe (which are accompanied by 48 engraved variants, 24 in proof, and 24 in hand-colored states); 40 colored plates by Crowquill; an Autograph Letter initialed "C. D." in Dickens's hand, about his experience of an earthquake; 1 page, 8vo, on Gad's Hill stationery, dated 7 October 1860; two checks in his hand made out to himself for £5 and the other to Chapman and Hall for £44, 6s; a letter from bookseller A. Jackson to Horace N. Pym (who likely assembled the extra-illustrated material) stating that he believes the present item to be "the most interesting extra-illustrated book that has ever passed through [his] hands"; letters from Dickens's daughter Mamie and from his sister-in-law Georgina Hogarth (who was also among his closest friends), all addressed to Pym, mostly concerning mementos of Dickens and one letter from Georgina mentions a set of Pickwick Papers in parts; a copy of C. S. Calverley's "Pickwick Exam Paper" with his manuscript notes; and a scarce pamphlet on the origin of Sam Weller. Bibliographically, the first 8 parts are in variant wrappers (inside covers are blank), and the final part has variant advertisements on the rear wrapper, otherwise it conforms closely to Hatton & Cleaver. The set lacks the publisher's address announcing the death of Seymour in the second part and at the same time introducing Buss in the third (though the suppressed Buss plates are present); plates are in mixed states, with several firsts; the 30 ad leaves called for in Parts I and III-VIII are lacking as are 17 of the ads called for in Parts IX, X, XII and XIII; ads for Part XIV are misbound in XIII. Hatton & Cleaver, pages 3-87; Eckel 51-56; Podeschi A16; Grolier English 78.
