DICKENS, Charles.
Peter Harrington holds one of the largest stocks of Charles Dickens first editions in the trade: the novels in their original monthly parts, first editions in book form, the Christmas Books, presentation and inscribed copies, autograph letters, and complete sets in fine bindings. Every copy is collated and described by our specialists, with issue points, binding and provenance stated, and every purchase is covered by our guarantee of authenticity.
Dickens (1812–1870) published almost all of his novels in serial form before they appeared as books, which makes his bibliography one of the most rewarding, and most technical, in English literature. Our current selection is below. New to Dickens, or checking a copy you own? Open our short guide to collecting Dickens first editions and the questions we are asked most often. We are always buying: if the title you are looking for is not listed, contact us or offer us your copy.
From our journal: Charles Dickens: the publishing formats of his first editions · For the bicentenary: Charles Dickens first editions
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DICKENS, Charles. Dombey and Son.London : 1846-48
First edition, in the original monthly parts, serialized from October 1946 to April 1848. Dombey and Son is "now recognized as one of the greatest of all his works... It is also the first one to have an explicitly contemporary setting" (ODNB).
The set conforms to Hatton & Cleaver's collation of earliest issue throughout, except in the... Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.London : 1839
First edition in book form, in the publisher's deluxe binding of full morocco, the most expensive of the multiple issues.
As declared in the Nickleby Advertiser, Chapman and Hall sold the book-form edition in three choices of binding: cloth (£1 1s.), half morocco with marbled edges (£1. 4s. 6.), and full morocco with gilt edges (£1. 6s.... Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. The Works.New York : 1872-4
Uniformly bound and profusely illustrated by Darley, Gilbert, and Cruikshank, among others. This is the Riverside edition. Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. The Works.London : [c. 1900]
Extra-illustrated deluxe limited edition, out of series from a limitation of 15 numbered sets. This elaborate production is based on Chapman and Hall's "superb memorial" to the artist (The Times, p. 10). It was issued in 1881 with more than 700 illustrations, including all those from the first editions. These feature here alongside original... Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; The Cricket on the Hearth; The Battle of Life; The Haunted Man.London : 1843-48
First editions. This copy of A Christmas Carol is a rare recorded variant, its title page and half title in their earliest forms, printed in red and green and dated 1844. These leaves were later reprinted with blue replacing the green and the date changed to 1843. Although both forms were published, green-title copies were traditionally referred... Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. Dombey and Son.London : 1848
First edition in book form. The novel is "now recognized as one of the greatest of all his works... It is also the first one to have an explicitly contemporary setting" (ODNB).
The novel was issued in monthly parts from September 1846 to March 1848, and in book form on completion. It contained "the first published example of a so-called... Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. The Works.London : 1900
Edition de Grande Luxe, number 153 of 500 sets, with reproductions of original illustrations as well as additional illustrations by Joseph Clayton Kyd. Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. The Posthumous Papers of The Pickwick Club.London : 1856
A handsomely bound copy of Dickens's first novel. Originally published in 1837, this Victorian classic turned the author from an obscure journalist into England's most famous writer in a matter of months. Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. The Personal History of David Copperfield.London : 1850
First edition, bound from the original parts as serialized from May 1849 to November 1850, incorporating the front wrapper from Part 15. The novel was published in book form that November.
Dickens's first novel written in the first person, "Copperfield received considerable critical acclaim and before long was widely held to be his greatest... Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. The Christmas numbers of Household Words and All the Year Round.London : 1850-67
A complete set of Dickens's seasonal offerings at his journals Household Words and All the Year Round, comprising nine issues each. Writing "in company", Dickens composed the opening and closing pieces as a frame for stories supplied by his staff writers. The serials continued the tradition of Dickens's five Christmas books of the... Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. Little Dorrit.London : 1857
First edition, bound from the original monthly parts as published from December 1855 to June 1857.
Peter Ackroyd declares the novel as Dickens's "single most ferocious onslaught against England and English society; against its government, against its financiers, against its artists, and even against its ordinary citizens... He had of course... Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. The Nonesuch Dickens.London : 1937-39
First Nonesuch edition, number 51 of 877 sets with an original plate. This example includes the steel plate that was used in the first edition of Sketches by Boz (1836) to illustrate "Mr Minns and his Cousin". The story represents a revised version of Dickens's first published work of fiction, "A Dinner at Poplar Walk" (The Monthly Magazine,... Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. The Battle of Life.London : 1846
First edition of the fourth of Dickens's Christmas books, with the engraved title page in the second state rather than the more common fourth. Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. The Works.London : [1880]
Illustrated Library Edition, later impressions, comprising an attractive example of what Dickens called "the best edition of my works".
Dickens's publishers launched the Library Edition of the author's works in 1858. It soon ran into problems and was "a commercial failure" (Parrott, p. 11). It then "gained a new lease of life" (Parrott, p.... Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.London : 1839
First edition, bound from the parts, in a very attractive contemporary binding, of one of Dickens's most politically pointed novels.
Writing after the successes of Pickwick Papers (1837) and Oliver Twist (1838), Dickens "did not want to lose either his reputation as a topical and polemical novelist or his fame as a comic one. So in... Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. Autograph letter signed to Thomas Wright.Gads Hill Place, Higham, Kent : 1870
An autograph letter penned just six days before the author's death, sent in apology and reading in full, "Dear Sir, In the hurry of saving the day's post for many letters, the enclosed was left in my cheque book when I wrote to you. I am very sorry to have caused you trouble. Faithfully yours, Charles Dickens."
It is accompanied by the... Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. Dombey and Son.London : 1848
First edition in book form of "one of the greatest of all his works... also the first one to have an explicitly contemporary setting" (ODNB), from the library of William Foyle and in an attractive Samuel Tout binding. The novel was issued in monthly parts from September 1846 to March 1848, and in book form on completion.
Dombey is further... Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. Dombey and Son.London : 1848
First edition in book form, following publication in serial form from September 1846 to March 1848. Dombey and Son was the first of Dickens's novels to have an explicitly contemporary setting, and is "now recognized as one of the greatest of all his works" (ODNB).
It is also noted for containing the first published example of "a so-called... Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. The Writings.Boston : 1894
The Large-Paper Edition, number 301 of 500 sets: a very attractive edition of Dickens's collected works, incorporating the illustrations of the first editions alongside scholarly commentary, here handsomely bound. Learn More -
DICKENS, Charles. The Works.London : 1910-19
The Centenary Edition. In celebration of the author's birth, Chapman and Hall reissued the deluxe issue of the Gadshill edition (1903), generally considered one of the best editions of the collected works of Dickens. Like the Gadshill, the Centenary edition uses Dickens's definitive revised texts and includes the original illustrations. Learn More
