OUR MUTUAL FRIEND

London: Chapman and Hall, 1864-1865. 20 original parts bound in 19, as issued. First Edition. Decorated throughout with illustrations by Marcus Stone, and with the great bevy of advertisements as issued and bound into the front and rear of each volume. 8vo, publisher's original blue printed wrappers, now housed in a fold-over case of brown cloth with black morocco lettering label gilt decorated. A very handsome set, the sheets uncut and the text and plates all preserved very well and present. The great number of ads are also in excellent condition and include many not often encountered such as the 'Foreign Bank Notes' ad in Part 19/20; page "13" misprinted "31" in No. 10 and noted by Hatton and Cleaver as appearing in a few copies, with the yellow announcement slip for "All the Year Round" in No. 8, with the rare yellow slip "At the Bar" "In Number 335" in No. 18 as well as the yellow Mappin & Webb advertisement, the volumes are in original condition and with some expert and essentially invisible refurbishment at the spine panels, some very light wear at some edges as is to be expected, but a truly fine and lovely set in beautifully preserved condition. FIRST EDITION IN THE ORIGINAL PARTS. With the Mutual Friend advertiser and related matter at the beginning and end of each part, and slip explaining the title in Part 1. A great bevy of the advertisements called for by Hatton and Cleaver are present. A fine survival of the original parts issues.
This was the second to last book that Dickens would write, and the last one that he would actually finish. The years shortly before the publication of OUR MUTUAL FRIEND were fraught with domestic sorrow that would lead to his eventual decline. He separated from his wife Catherine in 1858 after his admiration for the young actress Ellen Ternan strained his already deteriorating marriage. He further had to defend himself against scandal and protest his innocence when wagging tongues of gossip linked his name to his sister-in-law Georgina’s who had served as his housekeeper for many years. He threw his restless energy into increased productivity and public readings of his work, both of which were physically and emotionally exhausting. He suffered from recurrent illnesses during the creation of OUR MUTUAL FRIEND, but nonetheless managed to maintain the level of genius in his prose that had pervaded his previous works. He died unexpectedly only five years later, while he was writing THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD.
Like most of Dickens’ work, OUR MUTUAL FRIEND was published in monthly serial parts, the first in May of 1864 and the last in November of 1865 as here.