Recollections Of The Table-Talk Of Samuel Rogers, To Which Is Added Porsoniana, London: Edward Moxon 1856, Second Edition, with the bookplate and library plate of Charles Dickens. A collection of anecdotes of famous people of the day put together
by Samuel Rogers, an English poet who was best remembered for these anecdotes of the famous figures of his time, including friends like Wordsworth, Coleridge and Byron; these anecdotes provided insights into artistic and literary life in London. the book is 8vo. measures 8 1/4 x 5 1/4 in. wide.
The book was actually owned by Dickens and was part of his personal library in his country home at Gadshill Place in Kent. The book is housed in a slipcase with a with Dickens’ crest on the cover of the outer slipcase and an inner slipcase which folds around the book and slides into the outer slipcase. The bookplate of Charles Dickens and his own library plate are inside the front cover of the book, on the front paste-down. The bookplate shows a lion laying down (that’s called a “lion couchant”) with a cross in one paw and “Charles Dickens” on the bookplate, and the library plate reads “From the Library of Charles Dickens, Gadshill Place, June 1870”. The outer slipcase has five raised bands and reads “Charles Dickens’ Copy” on the spine, and it shows the crest of Dickens with a maroon background, a gilt lion and cross, and the initials “CD” inside a gilt circle on the front cover; in heraldry, the star-like cross is called a patoncy.
The outer slipcase measures 8 1/2 x 6 x 1 1/2 in. wide, and all these details show the book actually belonged to Dickens. The book does not have a lot of value; the real value is in the bookplate and the library plate of Charles Dickens because they show the book was part of his own personal library, and his bookplate and library plate are hard to find; again, a similar book with Dickens’ bookplate and library plate sold recently at Sotheby’s in 2019 for £15,000.