The posthumous papers of the Pickwick club

First edition illustrated with 43 plates including a frontispiece and a title-frontispiece (all plates are bound consecutively, after the preliminary pages, half-title, title page, preface and table of contents). MCCCXXXVII on title page. The plates bear no captions; the first 27 have pagination at bottom of page, the following bear no indication and appear to be before lettering (with pencil pagination notation). Our volume possesses several features attesting to the very first printing: Line 29 p. 260: "holding"; p. 341 line 1: "inbe-licate"; p. 342 line 5: "S. Veller"; p. 432 the F of Posthumous papers of is poorly printed. The engraved title is in second state with Tony Weller's name above the porch, the first state having simply Veller.
Contemporary full black sheep binding. Smooth spine decorated with 3 blind tools, one gilt tool and multiple fillets. Double fillet frame on boards. One tear at head. Overall very rubbed with scratches on boards. 2 corners cut, the other 2 bumped. The errata leaf, frontispiece and engraved title bear old restoration tape on inner margin, the errata leaf also has two smaller ones laterally. All engraved plates have browning all around the engravings, the frontispiece and engraved title being covered with it. The outer margin of the frontispiece has been torn away. All printed pages are very clean unlike the engravings, the paper being very different.
The posthumous papers, as with all Dickens's works, first appeared in parts from April 1836 to November 1837, then in volume form. Written by a 24-year-old Dickens, the work propelled the writer into a glory from which he never descended. The reception of the work was immense and very popular; it was claimed at the time that only the Bible and Shakespeare's works exceeded The posthumous papers in circulation.