Dickens, The Story of Little Dombey, 1858, reading edition

DICKENS, CHARLES

The Story of Little Dombey. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1858

16mo (172 x 110mm.), FIRST EDITION, half-title, 1 page of publisher's advertisements at end, original green pictorial wrappers printed in black, occasional spotting, slightly skewed, wrappers worn and soiled with loss, ownership signature to upper wrapper

One of the "reading editions" in original wrappers. As noted by Eckel, "In 1858, Bradbury and Evans printed special reading editions arranged by Dickens... each was a 16mo in size and uniformly bound in a green, pictorial paper wrapper. The scarcity of these books have caused fairly high prices to prevail, especially in the United States."

Writing to John Forster on 10 October 1858, Dickens noted the effect of The Story of Little Dombey on his audience: "...at the end of Dombey yesterday afternoon, in the cold light of day, they all got up, after a short pause, gentle and simple, and thundered and waved their hats with such astonishing heartiness and fondness that, for the first time in all my public career, they took me completely off my legs, and I saw the whole eighteen hundred of them reel to one side as if a shock from without had shaken the hall".

REFERENCE:

Eckel, p. 215