The Personal History of David Copperfield -
Charles DIckens, H. K. Browne aka Phiz (Illustrator)
1850 - Bradbury &, London - First Edition
‘Whether I shall turn out to be the hero of my own life, or whether that station will be held by anybody else, these pages must show.’
A handsomely bound first edition of arguably Charles Dickens’ most acclaimed work, wonderfully illustrated throughout with 39 engraved plates and engraved title page vignette by Hablot Knight Browne aka ‘Phiz’.
‘In this book of David Copperfield, [Dickens] has created creatures who cling to us and tyrannise over us, creatures whom we would not forget if we could, creatures whom we could not forget if we would, creatures who are more actual than the man who made them.’ – G. K. Chesterton
The story of a boy making his way in the world, and finding himself as a man and as a writer. In the first half, before Dickens's irrepressible storytelling kicks in and the motor of the novel starts to hum with incident, we find him almost meditating on his literary beginnings. The second half displays Dickens at his magnificent, and often uneven, best. There are the characteristic prose arpeggios, the virtuoso similes and metaphors, and the parade of timeless characters: Mr Micawber, Mrs Gummidge, Betsey Trotwood, Barkis, Uriah Heep, Steerforth, Mr Spenlow (of Spenlow and Jorkins) and Miss Mowcher. Dickens's own opinion of David Copperfield was ‘of all my books’ the one he liked ‘the best’’.
David Copperfield was the first book Sigmund Freud gave his fiancee, Martha Bernays, on their engagement in 1882. It was the gift of a lifelong Anglophile to his beloved, a book encrypted with peculiar meaning to a man with a special fascination for the complicated relation of autobiography to storytelling.
First edition in book form. With the following first issue points: no half-title (but not possible to verify as rebound); engraved title page is dated 1850;
p.viii, preface, has the final "i" misaligned in ‘viii’; p.x - chapter xxvii listed in table contents at pp. 283, instead of pp. 282; p.xv - six-line errata leaf; p.16 and p.225 - ‘recal’ instead of ‘recall’ (line 1, and line 22); p.19 12 lines up - ‘chapter ;ut’ instead of ‘chapter but’; p.387 6 lines up - ‘coroboration’ instead of ‘corroboration’.
Reference: Walter Smith, Charles Dickens in the Original Cloth, I, 9. Hatton and Cleaver, Periodical Works of Charles Dickens, 253. Drabble, Oxford Companion to English Literature, 739. Penguin Classics, web. Eckel, First Editions of the Writings of Charles Dickens.
Thick octavo (binding size 22.3x15cm), pp. xiv [2] 624 [2]. Finely bound by Frost and Co. of Bath, in full red niger morocco goatskin, twin gilt line bordered panels, spine decorated with single and twin gilt filet compartments, with gilt motifs and lettering, tooled edges, bands, and gilt ruled turn-ins, hand-marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Condition: Near fine, light scattered foxing to plates as commonly encountered, in fine binding. Ref: 112322 Price: HK$ 22,000
A handsomely bound first edition of arguably Charles Dickens’ most acclaimed work, wonderfully illustrated throughout with 39 engraved plates and engraved title page vignette by Hablot Knight Browne aka ‘Phiz’.
‘In this book of David Copperfield, [Dickens] has created creatures who cling to us and tyrannise over us, creatures whom we would not forget if we could, creatures whom we could not forget if we would, creatures who are more actual than the man who made them.’ – G. K. Chesterton
The story of a boy making his way in the world, and finding himself as a man and as a writer. In the first half, before Dickens's irrepressible storytelling kicks in and the motor of the novel starts to hum with incident, we find him almost meditating on his literary beginnings. The second half displays Dickens at his magnificent, and often uneven, best. There are the characteristic prose arpeggios, the virtuoso similes and metaphors, and the parade of timeless characters: Mr Micawber, Mrs Gummidge, Betsey Trotwood, Barkis, Uriah Heep, Steerforth, Mr Spenlow (of Spenlow and Jorkins) and Miss Mowcher. Dickens's own opinion of David Copperfield was ‘of all my books’ the one he liked ‘the best’’.
David Copperfield was the first book Sigmund Freud gave his fiancee, Martha Bernays, on their engagement in 1882. It was the gift of a lifelong Anglophile to his beloved, a book encrypted with peculiar meaning to a man with a special fascination for the complicated relation of autobiography to storytelling.
First edition in book form. With the following first issue points: no half-title (but not possible to verify as rebound); engraved title page is dated 1850;
p.viii, preface, has the final "i" misaligned in ‘viii’; p.x - chapter xxvii listed in table contents at pp. 283, instead of pp. 282; p.xv - six-line errata leaf; p.16 and p.225 - ‘recal’ instead of ‘recall’ (line 1, and line 22); p.19 12 lines up - ‘chapter ;ut’ instead of ‘chapter but’; p.387 6 lines up - ‘coroboration’ instead of ‘corroboration’.
Reference: Walter Smith, Charles Dickens in the Original Cloth, I, 9. Hatton and Cleaver, Periodical Works of Charles Dickens, 253. Drabble, Oxford Companion to English Literature, 739. Penguin Classics, web. Eckel, First Editions of the Writings of Charles Dickens.
Thick octavo (binding size 22.3x15cm), pp. xiv [2] 624 [2]. Finely bound by Frost and Co. of Bath, in full red niger morocco goatskin, twin gilt line bordered panels, spine decorated with single and twin gilt filet compartments, with gilt motifs and lettering, tooled edges, bands, and gilt ruled turn-ins, hand-marbled endpapers, all edges gilt. Condition: Near fine, light scattered foxing to plates as commonly encountered, in fine binding. Ref: 112322 Price: HK$ 22,000