Charles DICKENS. Lot n° 22

Bleak House. With Illustrations by H.K. Browne. London, Bradbury & Evans, 1853. In-8 of 1 frontispiece, XVI pp., 624 pp., 38 plates: tan morocco, spine ribbed with gilt filleting, gilt filleting on the boards, gold filleted edges, inner border of the same morocco with gilt filleting, gilt edges, case (G. Mercier sr de son père 1929). First edition. A denunciation of the absurdity of the judicial institution, the novel was a landmark in its highly modern narrative technique. Illustration of "Phiz" comprising a vignette on the title and 39 plates outside the text, including ten figures in black. Bleak House is one of the first books by Dickens to use chiaroscuro: "These dark etchings were the result of 'machine tinting' the steels, which gave an effect equivalent to that of 'mezzo-tinting'. The steel was first closely ruled with fine lines, and the design was then etched over the ruling. After that, by a further process of 'stopping-out' and 'burning', the effect of light and shadow was heightened" (Hatton & Cleaver). A perfect copy in decorated morocco by Mercier. Handwritten bookplate faded on a preliminary leaf: Yannik Potter 1856. (Hatton & Cleaver, A Bibliography of The Periodical Works of Charles Dickens, pp. 274-304).