The Pickwick Papers - Charles Dickens 1837 FIRST EDITION Publisher's Binding

The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens FIRST EDITION, later issue, bound in the original publisher's half morocco leather binding by Chapman and Hall in 1837.

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Chapman and Hall originally offered three bindings: full leather, half leather, and cloth. There were also a few 'super-bound' copies for Dickens to present as gifts which were bound by Hayday. It is indeed highly probably that this example is one of the scarce original publisher's half leather copies given the description by Smith, and its similarity to other known examples (such as Sotheby's lot 23, Sept 24th, 2019).

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Later state of the engraved title page with 'Weller' on the sign for 'Veller'. Plate 1 with buttons on the left side (Phiz plate), other plates 2nd or later state (11 floorboards to plate 4, etc).

Condition: Poor

A fantastic candidate for sympathetic restoration to return this scarce first edition to its former glory!

Collated as complete but with many leaves loose, predominantly to the front and rear of the book with the majority of the text block securely attached to the spine. Backstrip detached from spine but binding generally secured with minor wear to hinges. Binding secured to front and rear free endpapers with binding tape. Some wear to spine which would be greatly improved by the application of a leather conditioner. No loss to gilt on spine. Headcap lacking if called for (?). Plates oxidised as typical, including frontis and engraved t.p (significantly). Text block generally clean, though toned with minor very sporadic spotting. Some ink stains affecting the bottom page edge with some leaking through to the bottom of a few leaves, not affecting any text. Leaf 607/608 with a tear slightly affecting a few letters of text, loose as aforementioned.