DICKENS, CHARLES. Works. London: Chapman and Hall, 1863-1878. 31 (of 31) volumes, the "Library Edition." Three-quarters dark blue morocco gilt lettered and ruled, marbled paper boards, top edges gilt, signed "Bayntun. Binder. Bath. Eng" on the endpapers. 7 1/2 x 4 3/4 inches (19.25 x 12 cm); frontispieces, additional engraved titles, plates after Phiz (H. K. Browne), John Leech, George Cruikshank, and others. Toning to spines, some spots of rubbing and wear mostly at extremities and along spines, a few joints starting, Volumes I and II with some small rubbed spots and losses to marbled paper, contents generally clean and bright, sold as is.

A very early, if not the first, complete collected edition of Charles Dickens's works. Twenty-six of the thirty-one volumes were published during the author's lifetime, and the final volume, published in 1878, is The Life of Charles Dickens by John Foster. “The Library Edition came about largely because of the suggestion of [John] Forster that while Dickens's works were available in volumes in the Cheap Edition and in reprints of the serial parts, there was no high-quality edition that would appeal to the wealthy. Dickens eventually came round to the idea that an elegant edition could raise the stature of his writings... [It] sold at £15 for the set, a high price for the time” (Oxford Companion to Dickens). (Gimbel D32)