DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870). The Personal History... of David Copperfield. London: Bradbury and Evans, May 1849 - November 1850.

20 parts in 19, 8vo. Engraved frontispiece, engraved vignette title-page and 38 plates after Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). (Slight toning, spotting and offsetting, some minor creasing.) Original printed blue-green pictorial wrappers (a few spines neatly repaired, slight chipping with some repairs occasionally touching image, slight soiling); pull-apart case. Provenance: contemporary signatures to the front wrappers at the head of 10 parts.

FIRST EDITION IN ORIGINAL MONTHLY PARTS, including the rare 5-fold sheet and most specimen pieces from the "Lett's Diaries for 1850" advertisement in part 8. NEARLY COMPLETE WITH ALL TEXT, PLATES, WRAPPERS, SLIPS, AND ADVERTISEMENTS as called for in Hatton & Cleaver and in the first issue, except for the following: part 8 has 7 specimens (14pp.) of the likely 8 specimen pieces in the "Lett's Diaries for 1850" back advertisement; the part 12 advertisement "The Working Man's Library" is variation 2A [no priority]. David Copperfield, written at the midpoint of Dickens' career, draws from the author's own life. The novel is scarce in parts. As Eckel notes, the printing was comparatively small, the parts were "much read and roughly handled," and "fine, clean and unrepaired copies [were] difficult to procure" even in 1932. Eckel, pp. 77-78; Gimbel A121; Hatton & Cleaver pp. 253-272; Sadleir 686.

DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870). The Personal History... of David Copperfield. London: Bradbury and Evans, May 1849 - November 1850.