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Dombey and Son

Dombey and Son

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Dombey and Son

by Dickens, Charles

  • Used
  • Fine
  • first
Condition
Fine
Seller
Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Pasadena, California, United States
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About This Item

London: Bradbury and Evans, 1848. First edition. Fine. Very early issue, with all but 5 of Smith's 'internal flaws.' Finely bound full red morocco with a portrait of Dickens on the front cover and his signatures on the rear in gilt (binding unsigned, but seems to be Bayntun). Gilt titles and decorative spine compartments on the spine, all edges gilt. Marbled end papers. Bound without half title else complete, with vignette title, eight-line errata, and all 40 engraved plates (including the first example of a "dark plate" facing page 547). A handsome copy in a lovely binding. Housed in a custom slipcase.

Dombey and Son tackles a number of key themes that appear throughout Dickens' authorial career—concerns about family duty, class position, child welfare, and the dangers of arranged marriages in particular. As the titular Dombey builds his shipping company, he fantasizes that his son will someday take over the business and continue his legacy. But England is changing rapidly due to the effects of industrialization, and its effects ripple throughout Victorian culture. One symbol of industrialization's promise (and its perils) is the railroad. In chapter six, Dickens calls the railroad's impact a "great earthquake." Dombey and Son grapples with the effects of industrialization, and the railroad is one of the novel's symbols for this momentous era.

Smith 8. Fine.

Synopsis

Charles Dickens’s story of a powerful man whose callous neglect of his family triggers his professional and personal downfall showcases the author’s gift for vivid characterization and unfailingly realistic description. It follows the narrative of a shipping firm owner, who abandoned his family in favor of fortune after rejecting his daughter’s love in preference of a son. He later reconciles with her and begs forgiveness before his death.  Dombey and Son is a novel by the Victorian author Charles Dickens. It was first published in monthly parts between October 1846 and April 1848 with the full title Dealings with the Firm of Dombey and Son: Wholesale, Retail, and for Exportation . Dickens started writing the book in Lausanne, Switzerland, but traveled extensively during the course of its writing, returning to England to begin another work before completing Dombey and Son.

Read More: Identifying first editions of Dombey and Son

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Details

Bookseller
Whitmore Rare Books US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
5168
Title
Dombey and Son
Author
Dickens, Charles
Book Condition
Used - Fine
Quantity Available
1
Edition
First edition
Publisher
Bradbury and Evans
Place of Publication
London
Date Published
1848

Terms of Sale

Whitmore Rare Books

15 day return guarantee, with full refund if an item arrives damaged or not matching the description.

About the Seller

Whitmore Rare Books

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2009
Pasadena, California

About Whitmore Rare Books

We operate a retail shop in "Old Town" Pasadena open normal business hours Tuesday through Saturday.

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Spine
The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
First Edition
In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
Vignette
A decorative design or illustration placed at the beginning or end of a ...
Edges
The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...
Half Title
The blank front page which appears just prior to the title page, and typically contains only the title of the book, although, at...
Morocco
Morocco is a style of leather book binding that is usually made with goatskin, as it is durable and easy to dye. (see also...
Errata
Errata: aka Errata Slip A piece of paper either laid in to the book correcting errors found in the printed text after being...
Fine
A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
Gilt
The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...

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