The Works of Charles Dickens. "Household Edition." London: Chapman and Hall, London: Chapman and Hall, July 1871-January 1880.
101 parts. 8vo (252 x 191 mm). Engraved plates and in text illustrations throughout by Frederick Barnard, James Mahoney, Charles Green and others. Original green pictorial wrappers, unopened. Five custom quarter morocco slipcases lettered in gilt on spine, cloth chemises. Dampstaining affecting numerous plates as well as spine and margins of numerous wrappers (largely in pts 1–40), light chipping to spine ends of a few parts, some minor spotting and a few stray chips, tear to wrapper of pt 30 affecting last three leaves of text, 2" loss to rear wrapper of pt 63.
Provenance: Mr. Freeth (period ownership signature penciled to wrappers of several parts).

SCARCE FIRST ISSUE IN ORIGINAL MONTHLY PARTS. For the Household Edition, begun the year after Dickens's death, Chapman & Hall commissioned new illustrations and included Forster's Life of Dickens as the final volume. Also issued in 22 cloth-bound volumes, and with a contemporaneous American issue by Harpers substituting American illustrators in some instances, the Household Edition is scarce in monthly parts; Podeschi records an incomplete copy made up largely of the American parts issue, and only one complete copy of the English parts appears in auction records. Cook pp 42-44; Podeschi, Gimbel Collection D66, D68.