DICKENS, Charles [Illus: Cattermole, George; Brown, Hablot Knight; et al.]

Master Humphrey's Clock; In Original Weekly Parts

London: Chapman and Hall, April 1840-November 1841. First Edition. First Printing. Large Octavo. 27cm. Complete in 88 parts in original wraps housed in a tailor-made leather Solinger box and bookcloth chemise. Prefaces and preliminary matter present in Parts 26, 52, and 88. The vast majority in very good condition with some light soiling, creasing or inoffensive wear; Part 7 has a split to the spine, Part 17 has an amateur repair, Parts 29 & 30 have closed tears to the rear wrap, and Parts 12, 32,37, 81, 83, 85, 87, and 88 have visible soiling or shallow chipping to the wraps to some extent. The majority are internally clean and fresh and all pieces present conform to the requirements called for in Hatton & Cleaver ["Periodical Works of Charles Dickens" P. 163]. A significant number of the parts bear the signature of "H. Evans, Esq." discreetly to the upper front wrap. A very good, complete set of a very unusual Dickens periodical publication.

From a publishing perspective a bit of a botched experiment (although sales at points were astronomically higher than expected), and from a bibliographical standpoint something of a curiosity. Master Humphrey was available in this format initially, each weekly part being 16 pages and priced at threepence; weekly parts were then gathered by Chapman and Hall and combined into the more usual trimmed monthly parts; then three volumes of the weekly parts bound together with yellow endpapers and trimmed edges, were followed by a slightly shorter three volume edition with marbled endpapers and edges. Eckel states "Of the four issues the weekly one is difficult to obtain in a clean condition and is therefore the costliest." It's possible the entire concept would have been a costly failure had it not been for the legendary popularity of Little Nell going viral in "The Old Curiosity Shop" which makes up one of the full length stories encased in Master Humphrey's Clock. The concept itself is charming and typically Dickensian; Master Humphrey is an elderly antiquarian who keeps old manuscripts in the belly of a long case clock, and invites his friends and confidantes to come read them. The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge make up the bulk of the long form narrative, accompanied by numerous short stories, sketches, and anecdotal digressions.
There's something quite unnerving about the Victorian preoccupation with presenting everything as a communal parlour game that probably has something to do with the very things Dickens highlights; Victorian London was haves and have-nots, the invited and those who had to watch the feast from the other side of the window, you either conformed and joined in the games or you were outside. The cast iron social awareness of your average Victorian must have been something to behold.
Complete and presentable sets of either of the parts issues are hard to come by, and the tales held in Master Humphrey's Clock are probably best read in this form, one slim episode after another, accompanied by ads for Mechli's Leadenhall emporium.

Price: $5,000.00

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