Beschreibung:

DICKENS, Charles]. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby . London: Chapman and Hall, April 1838-October 1839.
DICKENS, Charles]. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby . London: Chapman and Hall, April 1838-October 1839. 20 parts in 19, 8° (224 x 132mm). Engraved portrait after D. Maclise, 39 etched plates by and after Hablot K. Browne. (Two plates in pt. 17 repaired at corners. Mechi's catalogue in pt. 8 lacking pp.17-18, without the small yellowslip sometimes pasted within the front wrapper of pt. 11, with the advertisement for "Hill's Seal Wafers" in pt. 19/20 but without the five specimen coloured wafers attached.) Original blue-green pictorial wrappers by Browne (front wrappers of pts. 1-2 with short edge tears, light browning to front wrapper of pt. 1, occasional small repairs), green morocco-backed box by Sangorski and Sutcliffe. Provenance : B. Amoy (signature on pt. 8) -- [T. James, Southampton (bookseller's label on front cover to pt. 16)] -- Marquess of Queensberry (armorial bookplate) -- Neville L. Fakes (sold Sotheby's London, 11 July 2002, lot 200). FRESH COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL PARTS. Plates in parts 1-2 with publisher's imprint; parts 4 and 5 are first issues; part 14 with notice of postponement of the plates "in consequence of the sudden indisposition of the artist"; plate 29 in part 15 in third state. Dickens's third novel continued the picaresque mode of Pickwick . The exposure of conditions in Yorkshire boarding schools in the depiction of Dotheboys Hall was partly based on a tour made by the author and illustrator shortly before the novel was started. This third novel also displayed Dickens's affection for contemporary theatre, the last number including his dedication to the actor W.C. Macready (1793-1873). Eckel pp. 64-66; Hatton and Cleaver pp. 131-160; Gimbel A40. (19)