The Newcomes. Memoirs of a Most Respectable Family. Edited by Arthur Pendennis. ESQre. Illustrated By Richard Doyle/ London: Bradbury And Evans, 11 Bouverie Street, 1853” on the front cover of the first part, in the original yellow wrappers, with 24 parts bound in 23, as issued. The original price was 1 shilling for each part, except the last double issue (Nos. 23 and 24), which cost 2 shillings for the two parts, and it was published in monthly parts that ran from October, 1853 to August, 1855. In a black custom slipcase.
William Makepeace Thackeray (1811 - 1863) was an English novelist and illustrator known for his satirical work. He was born in India and travelled the world and became famous for Vanity Fair, and he was hailed as the equal of Dickens. Thackeray wrote The Newcomes on a six month trip he took to the United States from 1852 to 1853 - it was a lecturing tour of America where he spoke about English humorists - and the novel is largely about marrying for money and the role of women in English society.
The story was never really edited by Arthur Pendinnis because Pendennis was actually a fictional character invented by Thackeray in The History of Pendennis, which was published three years earlier (1848 - 1850), but Thackeray just designated the fictional Pendennis to narrate the story here.
Richard Doyle (1824 - 1883) did all the artwork here; he was a Victorian artist who illustrated many magazines for Punch, as well as novels by Dickens, and he became famous for his fairy illustrations and his early woodcuts for Punch magazine, and he was the uncle of Arthur Conan Doyle, who created the Sherlock Holmes character.
All 46 plates by Doyle are present here, and all the Newcomes Advertiser ads are present, except for Nos. 1, 4, and 13, which have no ads in the front or rear. There are a profusion of ads in the front and rear of the other parts: Nos. 2, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20 , 21, 22, and 23 - 24 have eight pages of ads in the front, Nos. 3 and 16 have 12 pages of ads in the front and No. 12 has 4 pages of ads in front, while No. 14 is missing pages 3 - 6 in the eight-page ad in front, and No. 8 has no ads in the rear. An eight-page ad for the Respirator is present at the back of Nos. 2, 3, and 5, and ads for Bradbury and Evans are in the front of No. 5 and at the rear of Nos. 11 and 14; there are Waterlow ads in Nos. 3, 9, 10, 16, and 19, and a four-page ad for Uncle Tom’s Cabin at the rear of No. 3. There are pink ads for T. Madgwick as a cabinet maker and upholsterer at the rear of 5 and 6, and ads for Norton’s Camomile Pills in Nos. 7, 10, 19, and 22 and a Simco ad after the Norton Pill ad in Nos. 7; and 10; there are ads for Virtue & Hall at the rear of Nos. 14 and 15, and ads for Chapman and Hall in Nos. 15 and 16, and a ten-page pamphlet for John Cassell at the rear of No. 10, but it is missing the rare Great Northern Railway slip.
There is a blue slip for Dickens’ Household Words in No. 6 and an ad for Dickens’ works on a blue slip in No. 22 and at the rear of 24, an ad for the Illustrated Crystal Palace Gazette on a white slip in No. 9, a slip for Mayall’s Portrait Galleries at the rear of No. 10, a white slip with an ad for Punch’s Pocket Book after the plates in No. 14 and a full-page blue ad for Harry Coverdale’s Courtship and All That Came Of It at the rear of No. 14, ads for the British College of Health in Nos. 15 through 18 and again in No. 20. There’s a Prize Medal ad for Chocolate and Cocoa for Her Majesty at the back of No. 14 and a Prize Medal award for Fry & Sons and a Charles Lever Book at the end of No. 15, and an ad for A Dozen Pair of Wedding Gloves (illustrated by Phiz) on a white slip in No. 16. There’s also an important ad for The Bath House Poisoning Case on blue paper in No. 19 and ads for The National Review in Nos. 21 and 22, and The Newcomes Advertiser is present at the beginning of Nos. 2, 3, 5 through 12, and 14 through 24. So many of the slips and ads are present to make this a first issue, but some ads are lacking, especial the rare Great Northern Railway slip.
You need a scorecard to follow all this, folks, but it’s easier to see Van Duzer’s bibliography of Thackeray’s works. (See Henry Van Duzer, A Thackeray Library, First Editions And First Publications, Portraits, Water Colors, Etchings, Drawings, and Manuscripts, Privately Printed 1919.)
The black pebbled custom slipcase measures 10 x 7 x 4 3/8 in. across and pulls up at the top to reveal an internal slipcase that wraps around the monthly parts. The spine of the slipcase has five raised bands, the title and author in gilt on the spine, with an eagle and “Magnanimus Esto” on a banner below the eagle and “P.I. London, 1853 - 1855” below that, and there is light wear at the bottom of the slipcase. .
The wrappers are 8 Vo. and measure 9 x 5 5/8 in. wide, with some wear on the spines and light soiling, but there are no repairs or restoration at all to the wrappers. No. 1 has a two-inch tear along the spine, No. 4 has a small bookseller’s label at the bottom of the front cover and Nos. 4 through 12 have a small bookseller’s label at the bottom, and No. 16 has some exposed string on the left side of the front wrapper. The double issue at the end also has soiling, some spots, and light creases on the front cover, and there are browning or spots on most of the plates, but the plates are all present.