Fall 2023 Catalogue

17 “Please, Sir, I Want Some More”: First Issue Of Oliver Twist, 1838 12 DICKENS, Charles. Oliver Twist; Or, the Parish Boy’s Progress. By “Boz.” London, 1838. Three volumes. Octavo, 20th-century full red morocco gilt. $14,500 First edition, first issue, of Dickens’ classic, with “Boz” title pages and 24 illustrations by George Cruikshank, including the canceled “Fireside” plate, handsomely bound by BayntunRiviere in full morocco-gilt with a gilt portrait of Dickens on the front board. “When Bentley decided to publish Oliver in book form before its completion in his periodical, Cruikshank had to complete the last few plates in haste. Dickens did not review them until the eve of publication and objected to the Fireside plate which depicted Oliver at Rose Maylie’s knee [Volume III, page 313]… Dickens had Cruikshank design a new plate [with Rose and Oliver in a church interior]… This Church plate was not completed in time for incorporation into the early copies of the book, but it replaced the Fireside plate in later copies… Dickens not only objected to the Fireside plate, but also disliked having ‘Boz’ on the title page. He voiced these objections prior to publication and the plate and title page were changed between November 9 and 16” (Smith, 35). First issue, with both the Fireside plate and “Boz” on the title pages. Smith 4 (especially note 3). Fine condition. “Not Such A Hound As Mortal Eyes Have Ever Seen” 13 CONAN DOYLE, Arthur. The Hound of the Baskervilles. London, 1902. Octavo, original pictorial cloth, custom box. $9500 First edition, first issue, of the third Sherlock Holmes novel, widely regarded as the best of the series, with 16 illustrations by Sidney Paget. Although Conan Doyle had killed off his most famous character by sending him over the Reichenbach Falls while grappling with Professor Moriarty in “The Final Problem” (December 1893), his readership demanded the sleuth’s return. The author obliged with this, the third—and still considered by many the best— Sherlock Holmes novel, carefully positioned on the title page as “another adventure” of Holmes. “But,” as Howard Haycraft notes, “the seed of doubt was planted”; and while the novel proved an immediate success, readers continued to press for more. Conan Doyle finally relented and engineered Holmes’ “resurrection” in 1903. The Hound of the Baskervilles remains “one of the most gripping books in the language” (Crime & Mystery 100 Best 6). First issue, with all first issue points. Without extremely scarce dust jacket. Plate opposite page 311 tipped back in. Light foxing to endpapers and edges, text generally clean. Spine gently sunned, gilt still bright. An exceptionally good copy.

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