Charles Dickens. Bleak House. London: March 1852-Sept. 1853. Original serial parts....

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Charles Dickens. Bleak House. London: March 1852-Sept. 1853. Original serial parts.

More Information: Charles Dickens. Bleak House. London: Bradbury & Evans, March 1852-Sept. 1853. Original serial issue. Twenty parts in nineteen, octavo. Eight to twenty-four pages of preliminary ads; text continuously paginated 1-624; sixteen leaves of preliminaries follow text of Part XIX/XX. Frontispiece and thirty-nine additional inserted plates, ten of which are "dark" plates, by H. K. Browne; some with tissue. Original blue illustrated paper wrappers. Housed in green cloth chemise in green morocco two-piece slipcase; spine stamped in gilt with five raised bands. Most backstrips chipped at head and foot, lightly soiled, some peeling; many wrappers beginning to split at hinge, particularly from bottom; regular edge wear, chipping, rumpling, and light soiling. Part VIII backstrip split, with front wrapper coming detached from middle. Front wrapper of Part XII mostly detached; Part XVII completely detached, with first gathering. Part XIII lacking rear wrapper and ads. Part IV skewed. Approximately one-quarter of the parts have bookseller's stamp on front in black ink. Inked signature to margins of front wrapper of Part I; signature trimmed from Part III and XI. Small scratch, stab-holes to back wrapper of Part XI, extending into final gatherings. Part XIX/XX sophisticated--spine scraped, rebound with wrappers from Part XIII; price and number corrected in ink, lacking all ads front and rear. Most sets of rear ads partially lacking; remaining leaf in Part I torn and damaged at edges, coming detached; extra "Norton's Camomile Pill" ad nested inside the first in Part XVII, with first two leaves of front ads torn out. Two sets of front ads in Part IX. Some offsetting of ads onto facing pages. Plates toned; offsetting; occasional marginal damp speckling and discoloration. Light thumbsoiling, dog-earing and rough opening; some ruptured sewing and loose gatherings at interior of text blocks. Edge wear, scuffing and bug damage to slipcase; spine slightly faded; rear edge of top half splitting, loose to top corner. Fair to very good. Includes "Village Pastor" advertisement in Part XV. Lacks only final "Household Words" slip. Hatton & Cleaver, pp. 275-304. From the Collection of Jerome P. O'Connor.