DOMBEY AND SON.

London : Bradbury & Evans, 1848. First edition, in book form, bound from the original monthly parts published between October 1846 and April 1848. Dickens' telling tale of father and son, father and daughter - when the fifth instalment appeared, Thackeray - himself in the middle of serialising "Vanity Fair" - exclaimed "There's no writing against such power as this - no one has a chance! Read that chapter describing young Paul's death: it is unsurpassed - it is stupendous". This copy exhibits the dropped "if" on p.426 - a point of no proven significance, any more than all the other errors and minor variations said to indicate a mythical "first issue" - in particular the depiction of Captain Cuttle's hook on the wrong arm in the title-page vignette. There are no copies depicting it on the correct arm. See the "Not Peevish" post on the "Bookhunter on Safari" blog, December 20th 2013. Demy 8vo (210 x 131mm). xvi,624pp. Etched frontispiece, extra-title and thirty-eight plates by "Phiz" (H. K. Browne). Bound up, without errata leaf or half-title, in a contemporary olive half calf, marbled sides, now neatly rebacked, retaining the original red label; endpapers replaced; some minor scuffing and wear; some browning and spotting to plates, mainly to margins, but overall a good and sound copy.