LITTLE DORRIT by Dickens, Charles - 1857

1857. Illustrated Edition. Two Volumes Complete in One. Philadelphia: T. B. Peterson, n.d. [1857]. Original half calf with marbled boards, endpapers, and page edges.

First American illustrated octavo edition. The first Peterson volume of LITTLE DORRIT (in fact the first in book form anywhere) was Vol I of the two-volume duodecimo edition, published in November 1856, during serialization; in June 1857, once serialization was complete, Peterson quickly published the novel in numerous duodecimo (including Vol II of the above) and octavo formats. One octavo (double-column) format consists of 317 pages of text -- issued first without illustrations (in wrappers or in cloth), and soon thereafter with plates inserted. Another octavo format, this one, has 376 pages of text with the illustrations integrated into the text (some sideways). This copy is in contemporary half calf with marbled boards, page edges and endpapers. Peterson advertised that his octavo editions of Dickens were available to buyers in four different bindings of half calf (in addition to cloth), and we have seen numerous volumes in this exact binding -- leading us to believe that this is a publisher's original binding. Stab-holes are evident in the gutter of all leaves -- possibly indicating that it was originally bound up by Peterson in wrappers, then put into his standard half calf. Condition is very good, with minor rubbing at the extremities. See Podeschi D25.