DICKENS | Pictures from Italy, 1846, first edition

DICKENS, CHARLES

Pictures from Italy. London: Bradbury and Evans for the Author, 1846

8vo (173 x 108mm.), FIRST EDITION, advertisement leaves at beginning and end, half-title, woodcut illustrations by Samuel Palmer, original blue diaper cloth, covers stamped in blind, spine lettered in gilt, pale yellow endpapers, endpapers lightly spotted, upper cover lightly marked, corners lightly bumped, backstrip lightly faded, minor neat repairs at head and upper joint

Dickens had agreed to edit Bradbury and Evans' new newspaper the Daily News, at the beginning of 1846. However, due to his other writing commitments he was unable to devote the time required and resigned in February. He continued to write pieces for the paper, notably a series of "Travelling Letters" between 21 January and 11 March based on his travels in France and Italy and these formed the basis of this, his second travel book. Five of the letters published between 23 February and 16 March argued vociferously against capital punishment.

PROVENANCE:

W. Jenkins, book label