1844
First edition (in book form.)
Published by Chapman and Hall, London.
Half leather in original binding. Like nearly all of Dickens’ novels, Martin Chuzzlewit was first published in monthly installments. Early sales of the monthly parts were lower than those of previous works, so Dickens changed the plot to send the title character to the United States. Dickens had visited America in 1842 in part as a failed attempt to get the US publishers to honour international copyright laws. He satirized the country as a place filled with self-promoting hucksters, eager to sell land sight unseen. The main theme of the novel, according to Dickens’ preface, is selfishness, portrayed in a satirical fashion using all the members of the Chuzzlewit family. The novel is also notable for two of Dickens’ great villains, Seth Pecksniff and Jonas Chuzzlewit. Dickens introducedone of the first literary private detective characters, Mr Nadgett.

Illustrations by Hablot Knight Browne aka Phiz.
Prelims and plates foxed.

R25,000