2V Charles Dickens THE HOUSEHOLD NARRATIVE OF CURRENT EVENTS 1850‐1855 Decorative Antique Twopenny Monthly National International News Parliament Politics Law Crime Accident Disaster Social Sanitary Municipal Progress Obituaries Colonies Dependencies Foreign Events Commercial Record Stocks Shares Emigration Figures Fancy Leather Binding

Title: The Household Narrative of Current Events. Being a Monthly Supplement to Household Words, Conducted by Charles Dickens
Author: Charles Dickens ‐ Charles John Huffam Dickens was an English novelist, generally considered the greatest of the Victorian period. Dickens enjoyed a wider popularity and fame than had any previous author during his lifetime, and he remains popular, having been responsible for some of English literature′s most iconic novels and characters.
Publisher: [Uncredited publisher]
City: London
Year: 1850‐1855
Binding Style: Hardcover
Number of Volumes: 2 Full Set: Yes
Width: 6.5″ Height: 9.75″
Book Details: These decorative antique volumes contain the Household Narrative of Current Events for 1850 through 1855.

″The Household Narrative of Current Events [was] a twopenny monthly retrospect of national, international news, and other information, published from April 1850 to December 1855 (including numbers for January ‐ March 1850) […. It] aimed to extend the scope of the main journal in new directions, making the suite of publications a complete, cheap and widely available compendium to the life of the times.

An advertisement for the Narrative called it ‘a complete and carefully‐digested ANNUAL REGISTER,′ indicating Dickens′s hope that in its bound volume form it would emulate Burke and Dodsley′s famous Annual Register … [of] History, Politicks, and Literature, which he himself found so useful as a reference work for his journalism and historical fiction. Dickens′s front‐page announcement of the new venture reminded readers of ‘the intimate connexion between the facts and realities of the time, and the means by which we aim, in Household Words, to soften what is hard in them, to exalt what is held in little consideration, and to show the latent hope there is in what may seem unpromising.′ The Narrative would thereby be another means ‘to bear the world′s rough cast events to the anvil of courageous duty, and there beat them into shape.′ If the Victorian reporter is often figured as Asmodeus, the strange compound metaphor here casts the Victorian editor as Vulcan.

The Narrative′s nine subdivisional headings ‐ ‘Parliament and Politics,′ ‘Law and Crime,′ ‘Accident and Disaster,′ ‘Social, Sanitary and Municipal Progress,′ ‘Obituaries, Colonies and Dependencies,′ ‘Foreign Events,′ ‘Commercial Record,′ ‘Stocks and Shares,′ and ‘Emigration Figures′ ‐ clearly signalled a continuation of the special interest shown by Household Words in all these topics, presented in a more regimented, heavily factual and statistical format. To the extent that it provided the kind of corroborative detail and data on which the parent magazine based its arguments and reform campaigns, the Narrative acted as a guarantor of the integrity of opinion in Household Words.″ (Courtesy Dickens Journals Online)

These handsome volumes are two of dozens in a uniform collection we are offering during this auction, all coming from a private estate library. The books contain first and early printings of works by Charles Dickens and are all uniformly‐bound in fancy three‐quarter crimson leather with deep red marbled paper for endpapers and over the balance of the boards. The materials used for the bindings date the binding work to around 1890 and a bookplate is present on the front paste‐down endpapers of most of the books, belonging to Julius Franke (1868‐1936). Franke was a prominent New York City architect whose work included designing the Wurlitzer Building and it seems likely that he commissioned these bindings. Peruse our catalog to view additional offerings from this collection.
Condition / Notes: These antique volumes show well with some age/wear indications, including shelfwear and rubbing, with minor loss to high points. The bindings and text blocks are sound. Text is clear and crisp through mild/moderate age toning/foxing. There is a small number stamp to the title pages.

For lots which include only books, our shipping charge applies to any address within the fifty United States. For lots which are not books, the stated shipping cost in this listing will apply only to addresses within the continental 48 states. Within those parameters, the shipping cost for this lot will be: $8.50