BEAUTIFUL FINELY BOUND 40-VOLUME LIMITED EDITION ILLUSTRATED DICKENS SET, WITH AUTOGRAPH LETTER SIGNED BY DICKENS

DICKENS, Charles. The Works of Charles Dickens. London: Chapman and Hall, 1929. Forty volumes. Octavo, contemporary three-quarter red morocco, raised bands, elaborately gilt-decorated spines, marbled endpapers, top edges gilt, uncut.    $19,500.

Beautiful limited edition set of Dickens’ works, one of only 300 copies, with hundreds of illustrations by George Cruikshank, Hablot Knight Browne (“Phiz”), John Leech and others, with an autograph letter signed by Dickens. An exceptionally fine set.

The autograph letter, on stationary from the “Office of All the Year Round, A Weekly Journal Conducted By Charles Dickens,” reads “Thursday, Twenty-seventh March, 1862. Sir, In the discharge of my trust, I can only pay but Henry Austin’s own lawful debts. His father’s I have nothing to do with. I cannot overstep my responsibility. Your obedient servant, Charles Dickens. [lower left corner:] Mr. John James.” Henry Austin, an architect and reformer who married Dickens’ sister Laetitia and was a close friend of Dickens, died in 1862, the year of this letter: Dickens was instrumental in securing a government pension for Laetitia.

Fine condition.