Master Humphrey's Clock.

London: Chapman and Hall,, 1840-41. The pinnacle of Dickensian Gothic First edition in book form of what Gordon Ray describes as "the pinnacle of Dickensian Gothic", a particularly nice example in the original cloth. Ray goes on to note that Phiz (H. K. Browne) "is in excellent form" and that George Cattermole's "wonderful clutter of antiquarian or architectural detail is well suited to Dickens's chosen subjects". Master Humphrey was a publishing experiment on Dickens's part, unique in his canon, of issuing two novels together: The Old Curiosity Shop and Barnaby Rudge. The publication was issued in three forms, in weekly parts, monthly parts, and the present book form copies in cloth upon completion. Three volumes, tall octavo. Original purplish vertical-ribbed cloth, gilt lettered and decorated spines, covers elaborately blindstamped, front covers with gilt clock motif, marbled edges and endpapers. Housed in green cloth pull-off case. Printed frontispieces and 194 woodcut illustrations, of which 154 are by Browne, 19 by Cattermole, and 1 by Daniel Maclise. A very sharp copy, the spines uniformly sunned to tan, and the contents clean. Eckel p. 67 ff; Ray, The Illustrator and the Book in England from 1790 to 1914, 60; Smith I, 6.