Our Mutual Friend -
Charles Dickens, Charles Keeping (illustrator)
1982 - The Folio Society, London - First Folio Edition
Finely bound edition of Charles Dickens’s last complete novel and a glorious satire spanning all levels of Victorian society, with an introduction by Christopher Hibbert, and illustrated throughout with Charles Keeping’s wonderful line drawings. Keeping (1924-88) is ideal as an illustrator for Dickens as he himself grew up in Lambeth in a terraced house that housed three generations, surrounded by street markets and working horses. Keeping is the only artist to illustrate the complete works of Dickens, which took ten years to complete.
‘Our Mutual Friend centres on an inheritance – Old Harmon’s profitable dust heaps – and its legatees, young John Harmon, presumed drowned when a body is pulled out of the River Thames, and kindly dustman Mr Boffin, to whom the fortune defaults. With brilliant satire, Dickens portrays a dark, macabre London, inhabited by such disparate characters as Gaffer Hexam, scavenging the river for corpses; enchanting, mercenary Bella Wilfer; the social-climbing Veneerings; and the unscrupulous street-trader Silas Wegg. The novel is richly symbolic in its vision of death and renewal in a city dominated by the fetid Thames, and the corrupting power of money’.
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Price HK$ 2,800
1982 - The Folio Society, London - First Folio Edition
Finely bound edition of Charles Dickens’s last complete novel and a glorious satire spanning all levels of Victorian society, with an introduction by Christopher Hibbert, and illustrated throughout with Charles Keeping’s wonderful line drawings. Keeping (1924-88) is ideal as an illustrator for Dickens as he himself grew up in Lambeth in a terraced house that housed three generations, surrounded by street markets and working horses. Keeping is the only artist to illustrate the complete works of Dickens, which took ten years to complete.‘Our Mutual Friend centres on an inheritance – Old Harmon’s profitable dust heaps – and its legatees, young John Harmon, presumed drowned when a body is pulled out of the River Thames, and kindly dustman Mr Boffin, to whom the fortune defaults. With brilliant satire, Dickens portrays a dark, macabre London, inhabited by such disparate characters as Gaffer Hexam, scavenging the river for corpses; enchanting, mercenary Bella Wilfer; the social-climbing Veneerings; and the unscrupulous street-trader Silas Wegg. The novel is richly symbolic in its vision of death and renewal in a city dominated by the fetid Thames, and the corrupting power of money’.
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Price HK$ 2,800
The Uncommercial Traveller -
Charles Dickens, E. G. Dalziel (illustrator)
1877 - Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly - Household Edition, and first Dalziel illustrated edition
‘Are not the sane and the insane equal at night as the sane lie a dreaming? Are not all of us outside this hospital, who dream, more or less in the condition of those inside it, every night of our lives?’
A handsomely bound nineteenth century collection of Dickens 36 semi-autobiographical essays in which he wanders the streets of London and reminisces about his childhood and past, with 26 illustrations by Edward Gurdon Dalziel and the text in double columns.
These pieces are among the most admired and quoted of Dickens's journalistic essays, highlighting his unique skills as a social observer and commentator and 'sketcher' of contemporary life.
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Price HK$ 2,500
1877 - Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly - Household Edition, and first Dalziel illustrated edition
‘Are not the sane and the insane equal at night as the sane lie a dreaming? Are not all of us outside this hospital, who dream, more or less in the condition of those inside it, every night of our lives?’A handsomely bound nineteenth century collection of Dickens 36 semi-autobiographical essays in which he wanders the streets of London and reminisces about his childhood and past, with 26 illustrations by Edward Gurdon Dalziel and the text in double columns.
These pieces are among the most admired and quoted of Dickens's journalistic essays, highlighting his unique skills as a social observer and commentator and 'sketcher' of contemporary life.
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Price HK$ 2,500
Great Expectations -
Charles Dickens, F. A. Fraser (illustrator)
1876 - Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly - Household Edition, and first Fraser illustrated edition
A handsomely bound, nineteenth century edition of Dickens's haunting late novel depicting the education and development of the young Pip as his life is changed by a series of events - a terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter, decaying Miss Havisham and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward Estella; the sudden generosity of a mysterious benefactor - and he discovers the true nature of his 'great expectations'.
With 30 illustrations by Frank Fraser, and text in double column format.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1876 - Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly - Household Edition, and first Fraser illustrated edition
A handsomely bound, nineteenth century edition of Dickens's haunting late novel depicting the education and development of the young Pip as his life is changed by a series of events - a terrifying encounter with an escaped convict in a graveyard on the wild Kent marshes; a summons to meet the bitter, decaying Miss Havisham and her beautiful, cold-hearted ward Estella; the sudden generosity of a mysterious benefactor - and he discovers the true nature of his 'great expectations'.With 30 illustrations by Frank Fraser, and text in double column format.
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Price HK$ 3,000
The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby -
Charles Dickens, F. Barnard (illustrator)
1875 - Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly - Household Edition, and first Barnard illustrated edition
A handsomely bound edition, with 59 illustrations by Frederick Barnard and the text in double columns.
Our hero confronts a large and varied cast, including Wackford Squeers, the fantastic ogre of a schoolmaster, and Vincent Crummles, the grandiloquent ham actor, on his comic and satirical adventures up and down the country. Punishing wickedness, befriending the helpless, strutting the stage, and falling in love, Nicholas shares some of his creator's energy and earnestness as he faces the pressing issues of early Victorian society.
‘The novel has everything: an absorbing melodrama, with a supporting cast of heroes, villains and eccentrics, set in a London where vast wealth and desperate poverty live cheek-by-jowl.’ - The Times.
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Price HK$ 3,000
1875 - Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly - Household Edition, and first Barnard illustrated edition
A handsomely bound edition, with 59 illustrations by Frederick Barnard and the text in double columns.Our hero confronts a large and varied cast, including Wackford Squeers, the fantastic ogre of a schoolmaster, and Vincent Crummles, the grandiloquent ham actor, on his comic and satirical adventures up and down the country. Punishing wickedness, befriending the helpless, strutting the stage, and falling in love, Nicholas shares some of his creator's energy and earnestness as he faces the pressing issues of early Victorian society.
‘The novel has everything: an absorbing melodrama, with a supporting cast of heroes, villains and eccentrics, set in a London where vast wealth and desperate poverty live cheek-by-jowl.’ - The Times.
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Price HK$ 3,000
The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit -
Charles Dickens, F. Barnard (illustrator)
1872 - Harper & Brothers, New York - Household Edition
A handsomely bound edition of Dickens’ satirical comedy of hypocrisy, selfishness, and greed, the picaresque story of young Martin Chuzzlewit who, together with the scheming architect Pecksniff, journeys to America to seek his fortune. With 59 illustrations by Frederick Barnard and the text in double columns.
‘Any man may be in good spirits and good temper when he’s well dressed’.
As much of Martin Chuzzlewit was inspired by Dickens travels in America in 1842, which left an unfavourable impression on him, he includes in this edition a Postscript quoting a speech given to 200 representatives of the Press of the United States of America, at a dinner given to him in New York in 1868. In this he lays out his admiration for the people of America, and a copy of which he promises to include in every on of his works published in the United States in which he has referred to America.
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Price HK$ 2,800
1872 - Harper & Brothers, New York - Household Edition
A handsomely bound edition of Dickens’ satirical comedy of hypocrisy, selfishness, and greed, the picaresque story of young Martin Chuzzlewit who, together with the scheming architect Pecksniff, journeys to America to seek his fortune. With 59 illustrations by Frederick Barnard and the text in double columns.‘Any man may be in good spirits and good temper when he’s well dressed’.
As much of Martin Chuzzlewit was inspired by Dickens travels in America in 1842, which left an unfavourable impression on him, he includes in this edition a Postscript quoting a speech given to 200 representatives of the Press of the United States of America, at a dinner given to him in New York in 1868. In this he lays out his admiration for the people of America, and a copy of which he promises to include in every on of his works published in the United States in which he has referred to America.
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Price HK$ 2,800
Sketches by Boz illustrative of Every-Day Life and Every-Day People -
Charles Dickens, F. Barnard (illustrator)
1876 - Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly - Household Edition, and first Barnard illustrated edition
A handsomely bound edition of Charles Dickens's first published book, a funny and touching collection of observation, fancy and fiction showing the London he knew in all its complexity - its streets, theatres, inns, pawnshops, law courts, prisons and, of course, the river Thames. His descriptions of everyday life and people seem to anticipate characters from his great novels - garrulous matrons, vulgar young clerks, Scrooge-like bachelors - while his powers of social critique shine in his unflinching depictions of the city's forgotten citizens, from child workers to prostitutes.
With 34 illustrations by Frederick Barnard and the text in double columns.
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Price HK$ 2,500
1876 - Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly - Household Edition, and first Barnard illustrated edition
A handsomely bound edition of Charles Dickens's first published book, a funny and touching collection of observation, fancy and fiction showing the London he knew in all its complexity - its streets, theatres, inns, pawnshops, law courts, prisons and, of course, the river Thames. His descriptions of everyday life and people seem to anticipate characters from his great novels - garrulous matrons, vulgar young clerks, Scrooge-like bachelors - while his powers of social critique shine in his unflinching depictions of the city's forgotten citizens, from child workers to prostitutes.With 34 illustrations by Frederick Barnard and the text in double columns.
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Price HK$ 2,500
A Christmas Carol - and - The Cricket on the Hearth -
Charles Dickens, George Alfred Williams (illustrator)
1905 - The Baker & Taylor Company, New York - First Edition illustrated by Williams
Elegantly bound volume of Charles Dickens’ two beloved Christmas tales, illustrated with ten full page colour plates by George Alfred Williams.
A Christmas Carol – When old, surly Ebenezer Scrooge receives a visit from the ghost of Marley, his late business partner, on Christmas eve, he beholds a series of visions of the past, present, and future that make him decide to amend his ways…
The Cricket on the Hearth – The cricket ‘is a sort of barometer of life at the home of John Peerybingle and his much younger wife Dot. When things go well, the cricket on the hearth chirps; it is silent when there is sorrow. Tackleton, a jealous old man, poisons John’s mind about Dot, but the cricket through its supernatural powers restores John’s confidence and all ends happily’ (Britannica)
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Price HK$ 3,500
1905 - The Baker & Taylor Company, New York - First Edition illustrated by Williams
Elegantly bound volume of Charles Dickens’ two beloved Christmas tales, illustrated with ten full page colour plates by George Alfred Williams.A Christmas Carol – When old, surly Ebenezer Scrooge receives a visit from the ghost of Marley, his late business partner, on Christmas eve, he beholds a series of visions of the past, present, and future that make him decide to amend his ways…
The Cricket on the Hearth – The cricket ‘is a sort of barometer of life at the home of John Peerybingle and his much younger wife Dot. When things go well, the cricket on the hearth chirps; it is silent when there is sorrow. Tackleton, a jealous old man, poisons John’s mind about Dot, but the cricket through its supernatural powers restores John’s confidence and all ends happily’ (Britannica)
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Price HK$ 3,500
Little Dorrit -
Charles Dickens, J. Mahoney (illustrator)
1891 - Chapman and Hall, London
'In Little Dorrit, Dickens attacked English institutions with a ferocity that has never since been approached' – George Orwell.
A handsomely bound nineteenth century edition of Dickens’ masterly evocation of the state and psychology of imprisonment, illustrated by J. Mahoney, who had worked as a delivery boy in the darker streets of London, and with a reputation for drunkenness and disorderly behaviour was considered the ideal choice for those novels in which the darker side of London life is Dickens’ primary concern. Considered one of the supreme works of Dickens's maturity.
‘Arthur Clennam, returning to England after many years abroad, takes a kindly interest in Amy Dorrit, his mother's seamstress, who was born and raised in the Marshalsea where her father has long been imprisoned for debt. As Arthur soon discovers, the dark shadow of the prison stretches far beyond its walls to affect the lives of many, from the kindly Mr Pancks, the reluctant rent-collector of Bleeding Heart Yard, to the bureaucratic Barnacles in the Circumlocution Office and Merdle, an unscrupulous financier.’
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Price HK$ 3,000
1891 - Chapman and Hall, London
'In Little Dorrit, Dickens attacked English institutions with a ferocity that has never since been approached' – George Orwell.A handsomely bound nineteenth century edition of Dickens’ masterly evocation of the state and psychology of imprisonment, illustrated by J. Mahoney, who had worked as a delivery boy in the darker streets of London, and with a reputation for drunkenness and disorderly behaviour was considered the ideal choice for those novels in which the darker side of London life is Dickens’ primary concern. Considered one of the supreme works of Dickens's maturity.
‘Arthur Clennam, returning to England after many years abroad, takes a kindly interest in Amy Dorrit, his mother's seamstress, who was born and raised in the Marshalsea where her father has long been imprisoned for debt. As Arthur soon discovers, the dark shadow of the prison stretches far beyond its walls to affect the lives of many, from the kindly Mr Pancks, the reluctant rent-collector of Bleeding Heart Yard, to the bureaucratic Barnacles in the Circumlocution Office and Merdle, an unscrupulous financier.’
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Price HK$ 3,000