Martin Chuzzlewit
Price: $3,500.00
Browne, H. K. Hard Cover. London: Chapman & Hall, 1844. First Edition. Very Good.
With forty illustrations by H. K. Browne ("Phiz"), including frontispiece and vignette title page. First edition, with later 14-line errata leaf, and first state vignette title (no priority), signed "Phiz fecit" with "100£", and seven studs in lid of trunk. Publisher's moderate blue diagonally-ribbed cloth, front and rear boards stamped in blind with maze-like design, spine stamped in blind with five rectangular panels, three of which contains designs, and spine lettered in gilt. Very good, with shallow chipping to cloth at head of spine, some soiling to covers, corners rubbed to boards, Staunton Hill bookplate to front pastedown, minor repair to lower spine end and new endpapers, front hinge starting, toning to plates, and small chips to edges of a few pages and plates. Overall, an attractive copy, scarce in original cloth. Smith Part 1, 7. Originally published serially in nineteen monthly installments 1843-1844, Martin Chuzzlewit tells the story of Martin Chuzzlewit and his upbringing under his grandfather and namesake Martin Chuzzlewit Senior. The book features two of Dickens' most memorable villains, the grossly hypocritical Seth Pecksniff and the younger Martin Chuzzlewit's sinister cousin, Jonas Chuzzlewit. Although it was one of Dickens' favorite works, Martin Chuzzlewit was, much to his surprise, less successful than his earlier novels. The plot is notable for its harsh depiction of American culture and has been pegged by some to be Anti-American, although Dickens, who had just returned to Britain from the United States, considered this on par with the satirical criticisms of cultural institutions found in his other novels. Item #DC193
