Dickens, Charles

Sikes and Nancy: A Reading. London: Henry Sotheran & Co., 1921



In 8s (8 7/8 x 5 3/4 in.; 226 x 146 mm). Frontispiece portrait of Dickens.

Albert Henry Wiggin (bookplate) — Lynde Selden (bookplates)

Yale/Gimbel B56

Front joint broken; head and foot of spine lightly worn.
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A Cosway binding with two large portrait miniatures, on ivory, by Miss Currie of Charles Dickens in his later years. Crushed purple morocco, the covers panelled with two widely separated gilt fillets enclosing gilt-tooled cornerpieces, each cover inset with a fine large oval portrait (each 4 3/4 in. high) of the mature Dickens, that on the front cover in right profile, that on the rear cover facing nearly forward, each portrait within a densely gilt-tooled frame; the spine gilt-tooled in six compartments; board edges gilt-ruled and lettered "Cosway Binding" (upper) "Invented by J. H. Stonehouse" (lower); turn-ins gilt-panelled, foot of front turn-in signed "Bound by Rivière & Son," navy blue moiré silk linings, foot of front lining gilt-stamped "Miniatures C. B. Currie," top edge gilt, others uncut. Blue cloth slipcase.

Inserted at the front of the volume is the printed certification "This is No. 826 of the Cosway Bindings invented by J. H. Stonehouse, with Miniatures on Ivory by Miss Currie," signed by both.

Limited edition, no. 213 of 275 copies, signed by the publisher. As Sikes and Nancy was published by Sotheran, the bookseller who marketed Cosway bindings, and had an introduction by John Harrison Stonehouse, the originator of the Cosway  design, it was a favorite subject for Cosway bindings. Compare the copy in the Estelle Doheny Collection (Christie's New York, 18 October 1988, lot 1560), which had nearly identical portraits (though inset to the opposite covers) but a completely different gilding design.