Bidspirit auction | Dickens, Charles. The Works of

Dickens, Charles. The Works of Charles Dickens. S. Walker & Co. / Riverside Press, 1867-1874. - A multi-volume set of the Works of Charles Dickens, identified as the Fireside Edition. These octavo volumes are bound in publisher's uniform brown half-leather over marbled paper-covered boards, featuring matching marbled endpapers and edges. The spines are characterized by six compartments defined by raised bands, decorated with gilt-stamped floral flourishes and gilt lettering for the series title, individual work titles, and volume numbers. Each volume contains numerous wood-engraved illustrations after designs by notable 19th-century artists including F.O.C. Darley, John Gilbert, and George Cruikshank. The set includes major titles such as Pickwick Papers, Bleak House, Nicholas Nickleby, The Old Curiosity Shop, Dombey and Son, David Copperfield, Martin Chuzzlewit, Little Dorrit, and Christmas Stories. Internal title pages include specific imprints for S. Walker and Company, Boston, and Hurd and Houghton, New York, with printing and stereotyping credits to H.O. Houghton and Company at the Riverside Press, Cambridge. The volume for Pickwick Papers includes a frontispiece portrait of the author with a printed facsimile signature. Copyright dates observed internally range from 1867 to 1874. The collection exhibits significant wear consistent with heavy use and age. The leather bindings show widespread degradation, with substantial chipping and loss to the head and tail of many spines (photos 1, 14, 18). Several joints are cracked or starting, and there is heavy scuffing and rubbing to the leather corners and marbled paper boards (photo 2). Internally, the text blocks show varying degrees of foxing, toning, and occasional moisture staining, most notably to the frontispiece and title page of the Pickwick Papers volume (photo 8). There is evidence of previous repair to the inner hinges of at least one volume using cloth tape (photo 5). Some pages show minor marginal tears and corner creasing throughout the set.