The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit (in Two Volumes)

Boston: Ticknor and Fields, 1868. Book. Very Good. Cloth. First Edition Thus. 12mo - over 6¾ - 7¾" tall. Two-volume complete set. First American edition of Vols. V and VI of the original 27-volume deluxe illustrated Library Edition of The Works of Charles Dickens, with title pages dated 1868. Statement from Charles Dickens on copyright page authorizing this edition dated April, 1867. With illustrations on 40 engraved glossy plates, including frontispieces, protected with tissue (all of the illustrations that appeared in the first edition). Publisher's original dark-green cloth binding with gilt lettering and ruling on the spine and blindstamped decorations on both covers. "Library Edition" appears in gilt at bottom edge of spine with no volume number. Brown smooth-coated endpapers. xvi + 436 and x + 433 text pages. Single-column text. Printed by Virtue and Co., London. Vol. I is NEAR FINE and Vol. II is VERY GOOD. Vol. I is in excellent condition but Vol. II is cracked at the half-title page and opens wide in a few places with partial looseness to several pages, including the last few text pages, but all pages are still attached. Vol. I opens wide in a couple of places but has no looseness of pages or cracking. Both volumes have bright, clean exteriors with bright, unworn gilt on spines and just slight wear at the spine ends and corner tips. Both volumes have bright, clean pages with no foxing or browning to the text or illustrated plates, which are all present. Previous owner's signature in fountain pen on front flyleaf of both volumes: "Martha B. Heath / From Uncle Pratt / Sept. 1868.".