THE FOUR GEORGES: Sketches of Manners, Morals, Court and Town Life

London: Smith, Elder and Co, 1861. Pp. [iv]+226+[2](colophon, verso blank)+ 16(publisher's catalogue, dated November 1861), frontispiece, plus one plate with tissue guard, text illustrations; cr. 8vo; green cloth, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, boards decorated in blind, the boards a trifle canted, edges slightly rubbed, bottom fore-corners of upper board bruised; uncut; early pencilled signature (dated 1871) at head of title page, hinges cracking at front and centre, small piece torn from bottom edge pp. 145/6, a couple of faint marginal damp stains, a little light foxing; Smith, Elder and Co., London, 1861. First U.K. edition, first issue, with no comma after publisher's name on title page and the sub-title on half-title and title pages. Van Duzer 70; Shepherd 136; Wolff 6691. *Based on a series of lectures delivered by Thackeray during his second visit to the United States, from October 1855 to April 1856. After his return to England, he delivered them in London and other cities. They first appeared in print in the Cornhill Magazine (which Thackeray edited), from June to October 1860, and were published in book form by Harper & Brothers, New York, in November 1860. The plates were by engraved Joseph Swain (1820-1909), who engraved most of the illustrations for the Cornhill.