Author: DICKENS, Charles
Title: Hard Times
Description: 1854. DICKENS, Charles. HARD TIMES. New York: T. L. McElrath & Co. 1854. 'First' American edition - one of several issued that year. This edition derives from the typesetting for the periodical publication of Hard Times in the American issue of Household Words, also published by T. L. McElrath. Octavo. [2],108,[2] pp. Text printed in double columns. The final leaf is a blank. Original dun paper wrappers with price (25 cents), title and the name of the Boston agents, Fetridge & Company, printed on the front wrapper, and an advertisement for a face cream - available at Fetridge & Co. - on the back. Although the wrappers are stained and edge-creased, they are surprisingly intact. The stains on the covers have seeped into the bookblock, diminishing as the pages progress toward the center. Sporadic pages have light-colored foxing, which is occasionally heavy. Some leaves have slightly dog-eared corners. One leaf (p. 105-6) has some loss in fore-edge. Very good overall. (See Podeschi A138 - third copy.) Offered with: HARD TIMES, Chapters 1-5, and part of Chapter 6, as issued in the American edition of "HOUSEHOLD WORDS, a journal conducted by Charles Dickens" for May 1854 (New York: McElrath & Barker, Boston: Frederick Parker. Volume 2, Number 1; Whole Number Monthly 13). Dickens' story appears at the beginning of the issue and again at the end, in groups of pages numbered 1-4 and 5-12, with 92 pp. of the regular issue between them. Text is printed in double columns within a double-rule frame on each page. Bound in the original dun paper wrappers, with the title information printed on the front wrap and an advertisement for Hard Times on the back. Wrappers are moderately edgeworn, chipped, and creased, with some soiling and staining. There is a dampstain on the front cover at the fore-edge and intermittently, waxing and waning, throughout the bookblock. Otherwise the text leaves are clean. Good plus. A very scarce format. .

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