Dickens, Charles | A Tale of Two Cities, in the original monthly parts

Property from the Workman Collection

Dickens, Charles

A Tale of Two Cities. In original monthly parts. London: Chapman and Hall, June - December 1859

8 parts in 7, 8vo (222 x 140 mm). Etched frontispiece, additional title and 14 plates by and after H.K. Browne (“Phiz”), signature “b” present on list of plates, p. 213 mispaginated as "113," p. 134 with “affetcionately” for affectionately, part 1 with the yellow slip announcing the “Discontinuance of Household Words” inserted following the front advertisements and featuring Morison's "lion" advert near the back, part 3 with "The Morisonian Monument" advertisement is substituted for "The British College of Heath" and not "Morrison's Pills", part 7/8 with ad for the "Cornhill Advertiser" reprinting a letter from W.H. Thackeray tipped-in at rear; faint spotting to plates, otherwise internally clean. Original blue-green pictorial wrappers by Browne, part 6reads "Lord Brougham and the Working Classes," rather than “A Tale of Two Cities” as sometimes found; some browning and staining, early ownership signatures along tops of parts 2, 5, and 6, spines expertly renewed, some wrappers just shaved at top. Housed in custom green morocco clamshell case and folding chemise. 

First edition in the original monthly parts—the final collaboration between Dickens and his illustrator Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"). The novel had first appeared in the weekly journal All the Year Round from 30 April to 26 November 1859.

REFERENCE:

Hatton and Cleaver 333-342; Eckel 86