Master Humphrey's Clock

London: Chapman and Hall, 1840-41. First Edition in Book Form. Bound from the original parts. 3 tall octavo volumes (26cm); publisher's purple-brown vertical-ribbed cloth, covers decorated with blind border of thick and thin fillets and broad elaborate flower leaf and stem design, with spines lettered and decorated in gilt with five scrolled shields and three leaf-bulb designs; primary binding, with the hands on gilt clocks on each front cover pointing to the hour which corresponds to the appropriate volume number; variant marbled endpapers; [2], [iv], 306; [vi], 306; [vi], 426pp; illus. with three frontispieces and numerous wood-engravings in text by George Cattermole and Hablot K. Browne ["Phiz"]. Previous owner's name ("Mrs. Eden") written in a contemporary hand at center of first blank in each volume; hint of sunning to spines, with spine ends lightly softened; light wear to lower board edges, with brief exposure to lower corners; slight forward lean to Vol.1; Vol.3 expertly re-hinged; occasional finger soil to margins, though generally clean throughout and free of foxing; an attractive, Very Good+ set overall. Master Humphrey's Clock was planned to be a collection of stories and sketches told by Master Humphrey and his circle of friends, as Dickens outlined in his preface - written in weekly parts over 40 months. The original scheme was not successful, and Dickens altered the format to make Master Humphrey's material a framework for his novels, The Old Curiosity Shop (nos.6-45) and Barnaby Rudge (nos.46-88).