Martin Chuzzlewit by Charles Dickens, Illustrated by C.E. Brock, Sims Binding

Binding Details:  Fine contemporary custom binding by the Sims Bindery of three-quarter dark green leather over complimentary cloth covered boards with raised bands to the spine, gilt titles, and elaborate decorative giltwork including central gilt floral motifs. Twin gilt lines to the boards and corners. There are hand-marbled endpapers, hand-sewn silk endbands, with the top page edges gold gilted. Laid into the book is a signed card from Andrew Sims stating that the book was bound by the Sims Bindery. 

Book Details: Originally published serially in monthly installments from January, 1843 – July, 1844, this is the 1932 George G Harrap & Co Ltd edition that features 16 full page color illustrations by C.E. Brock. William Boyd in his article in the Guardian Review on The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit wrote, “Chuzzlewit is, I believe the most sheerly funny of all Dickens's novels and the comic characters and scenes are written with a vigour and brio which is the equal of anything else in his oeuvre. I would go so far as to claim that, in Chuzzlewit, you find the most sustained passage of comic writing in English literature, namely chapters eight and nine when the Pecksniff family go to London. These 40 pages are written with a textured brilliance of detail and are also replete with the richest comedy – a coming together of style and humour that is unmatched in all his other novels. You will laugh out loud at Martin Chuzzlewit – the comedy travels effortlessly across the 170 years since it was written – and for that reason alone it deserves to be ranked among the greats.

Measures approximately 9.5” x 6.5” x 2” with 752 pages as well as a preface, table of contents, list of illustrations, and list of characters.

Condition Report:  The binding is in FINE condition. Internally, the book is very clean with no signs of previous ownership. Overall, this is a beautiful binding that houses one of Dicken’s most critically acclaimed novels.

A photograph of the binding, endpapers, and binder’s card appear in the photo section of the listing.