DICKENS, CHARLES. Barnaby Rudge; a Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty. London: Chapman and Hall 1841. Large 8vo, red morocco gilt, g.e., by Riviere, front cover detached, a marginal tear skilfully repaired. FIRST SEPARATE EDITION, originally published with The Old Curiosity Shop as Master Humphrey's Clock, illustrations by George Cattermole and Hablot K. Browne, PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed by the author in light blue ink at top of title-page: "Mrs. Smithson From Charles Dickens, New Years Day 1842" (the book was published 15 December 1841). The recipient was undoubtedly the wife of Charles Smithson, who was the partner of Thomas Mitton, Dickens's close friend and lawyer. In the summers of 1841 and 1842 the Dickens family and the Smithsons vacationed at the same seaside resort (Broadstairs). In 1843, after a visit that summer to the Smithsons in Yorkshire, Dickens wrote in a letter: "The Smithsons were 'the jolliest of the jolly, keeping a big old country house, with an ale cellar something larger than a reasonable church...We performed some madnesses there in the way of forfeits, picnics, rustic games, inspections of ancient monasteries at midnight, when the moon was shining, that would have gone to your heart, and as Mr. Weller says, "come out on the other side"'" (Edgar Johnson, Charles Dickens, New York, 1952, vol. 1, p. 457). Smith 6B.

Details

DICKENS, CHARLES. Barnaby Rudge; a Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty. London: Chapman and Hall 1841. Large 8vo, red morocco gilt, g.e., by Riviere, front cover detached, a marginal tear skilfully repaired. FIRST SEPARATE EDITION, originally published with The Old Curiosity Shop as Master Humphrey's Clock, illustrations by George Cattermole and Hablot K. Browne, PRESENTATION COPY, inscribed by the author in light blue ink at top of title-page: "Mrs. Smithson From Charles Dickens, New Years Day 1842" (the book was published 15 December 1841). The recipient was undoubtedly the wife of Charles Smithson, who was the partner of Thomas Mitton, Dickens's close friend and lawyer. In the summers of 1841 and 1842 the Dickens family and the Smithsons vacationed at the same seaside resort (Broadstairs). In 1843, after a visit that summer to the Smithsons in Yorkshire, Dickens wrote in a letter: "The Smithsons were 'the jolliest of the jolly, keeping a big old country house, with an ale cellar something larger than a reasonable church...We performed some madnesses there in the way of forfeits, picnics, rustic games, inspections of ancient monasteries at midnight, when the moon was shining, that would have gone to your heart, and as Mr. Weller says, "come out on the other side"'" (Edgar Johnson, Charles Dickens, New York, 1952, vol. 1, p. 457). Smith 6B.