Bleak House
Bradbury & Evans, 1853.
First edition. Original publisher's primary binding of olive green fine diaper cloth blocked in blind with border and central arabesque to covers and titles blocked in gilt to the spine. Engraved title and 39 full page steel engraved plates by H.K. Browne. A near fine copy, with almost inevitable toning to the spine but otherwise very bright and crisp and free from any repair. Internally, unusually clean, with no mentionable foxing only the most minor browning to the edges of the plates. Hinges tight, but starting. An exceptionally well preserved copy.
Critically regarded as one of Dickens's most accomplished novels, Bleak House is notable for its complex plot structure and for the large and diverse range of characters it introduces. It also contains elements of crime fiction and is the first significant novel in which a detective plays an important role. Its satire of the Chancery court system remains one of the greatest passages on the English legal system in literary history.
"Bleak House is not certainly Dickens's best book; but perhaps it is his best novel" - G.K. Chesterton
Dickens's octavo novels have rarely survived in good unprepared cloth, however, possibly as a consequence of its immediate popularity, copies of Bleak House seem particularly uncommon.
Smith I 10
Stock ID: 41758
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