£120
FIRST EDITION, 2 vols., 8vo, pp. xv, [i], 320; [ii], 321-624 + frontispieces to each volume, engraved title-page to vol. 1 and 38 further plates. Original purple cloth, boards blocked in blind, spines blocked and lettered direct in gilt. Some spotting, stitching slightly strained in places. Unevenly sunned, extremities bumped and a little worn, some nicks to spine-ends, small mark to one board. Bookseller’s ticket of Kerby & Son to pastedown of vol. 1.
An early issue of Charles Lever's comic novel about an English family's travels on the continent. Originally published in parts starting in 1852, the first book-form edition was 1854, in a single volume, and the second edition, in two volumes, was 1863. This copy has title-pages that are undated, and specify 'in two volumes', but other typographical details more closely match the first edition than the second. This suggests (the text all being from the same setting of type) that this example, in its publisher's cloth binding, is more likely to be an earlier attempt to use up sheets of the first printing rather than a later version of the second edition.
