Oliver Twist
Philadelphia: Lea & Blanchard, successors to Carey & Co., 1839 [but actually 1838].
First American edition with first state ad at front of first volume. [ii ads and publisher's notice], iv, [13-]14-224; iv [3]-196, [16 catalogue] pp. Bound in publisher's brown boards with red calico-texture quarter cloth, paper spine label. Very Good with repairs to joints and hinges, front board of Vol. 1 relaid onto spine, boards soiled, worn, and well-rubbed, light foxing, staining, and toning to contents. Despite repairs hinges a bit fragile. Vol. II dampstained prelims with some stains trailing off that; pages 41/42 horizontal split repaired with archival tape, repaired chip to pp. 99/100; small hole to 128/129; worming to inner margins of pp. 185-196 and first three leaves of ads at rear. Copy of Elvia A. Haines with her penciled inscriptions on paste downs and poem written on rear paste down of second volume. Smith Charles Dickens First American Editions pp. 84-87. The first complete edition of Dickens' famous novel hastily issued without Cruikshank's illustrations on December 19, 1838 with a title page dated for the upcoming year. Rare, especially in the publisher's bindings.
Price: $4,000