Dombey and Son
- Leather Bound
- London: Bradbury & Evans, 1848
London: Bradbury & Evans, 1848. First edition in book form, early issue. Leather Bound. Very Good. H. K. Browne. 624pp. Octavo [21.5 cm] Bound in a contemporary Bayntun binding of full brown leather, with gilt stamped ornamental designs on the spine, the publication date at the foot of the spine, and double gilt-ruled borders on the covers. All edges gilt. Turn-ins gilt. Two brown silk ribbon page-markers. With the frontispiece and engraved half title and 38 plates by Halbot Knight Browne ("Phiz"). Extra-illustrated with twelve illustrated plates depicting the leading characters. No Errata. Second spine label mostly perished. Light rubbing to the extremities. Barely visible numerical notation on the front free endpaper. Faint contemporary ownership marking at the head of the title page. Paper repairs to pp. 113/14 and repair to fore-edge margin of p. 127/28. The following was noted during collation: "Captain Cuttle consoles his Friend" is facing p. 86 rather than p. 87. "Poor Paul's Friend" is facing p. 178 rather than p. 179. "Solemn Reference is made to Mr. Bunsby" is facing p. 239 rather than p. 238. "On Arrival" faces p. 564, not p. 565. Dark plate at p. 547 (the first published example of a dark plate). Smith 8. Eckel, p. 74-76. Collins (extract from the third volume of The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature), pp. 798/99.
P. 70- "f" is not missing in "familiar." Not all of the gaps in spacing present. P. 253- "remains" with dot. P. 324- "Captain" present. Page number present on p. 431. Else, all other internal flaws present as are listed in Smith. This title was first published in twenty monthly parts between October 1846 and April 1848 with the full title Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail and for Exportation. Dombey and Son, set in a socially decaying industrialized London, explores the themes of betrayal, cruelty, and deceit. It is the story of Mr. Dombey, a wealthy shipping merchant whose wife dies while giving birth to their second child- Paul, a long-desired son and heir. After Paul's birth, the elder child, Florence, a girl, becomes neglected. Paul eventually dies, and Dombey's hopes are shattered.
P. 70- "f" is not missing in "familiar." Not all of the gaps in spacing present. P. 253- "remains" with dot. P. 324- "Captain" present. Page number present on p. 431. Else, all other internal flaws present as are listed in Smith. This title was first published in twenty monthly parts between October 1846 and April 1848 with the full title Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail and for Exportation. Dombey and Son, set in a socially decaying industrialized London, explores the themes of betrayal, cruelty, and deceit. It is the story of Mr. Dombey, a wealthy shipping merchant whose wife dies while giving birth to their second child- Paul, a long-desired son and heir. After Paul's birth, the elder child, Florence, a girl, becomes neglected. Paul eventually dies, and Dombey's hopes are shattered.