About this Item
188 x 130 mm. (7 3/8 x 5"). Two copies. Original purple and pink paper wrappers, respectively. Laid into an attractive emerald green morocco chemise, covers framed with a French fillet, elaborate volute cornerpieces accented with pomegranate and floral tools, with a floral spray extending from the center, its three flowers inlaid in maroon and gold morocco, cornerpieces vertically connected with a dotted roll and lozenge tool, front cover with gilt title, flat spine lettered in gilt with floral sprays at head and tail, turn-ins elaborately gilt, with lilac floral jacquard doublures. In the apparently original (rather worn) green silk slipcase with gilt titling on both covers. The second issue with the fabric-backed first publication in "Household Words" tipped in at the rear. With a typed description from Alwin J. Scheuer laid in. Eckel, pp. 188-91. Both copies with the wrappers slightly soiled, but the delicate bindings holding firm; the first issue with a vertical crease through the center; the second issue with a three-inch closed tear to the front cover and a three-quarter inch closed tear to the rear cover, otherwise very fine copies, entirely clean and fresh internally. This is a complete little grouping that comprises the three versions of a short Dickens piece written about, and then later used on behalf of, St. Luke's Hospital, a mental institution with a focus on serving the poor--with the three pieces offered here in a highly ornamental chemise. Dickens composed "Curious Dance" following a Christmastime visit to St. Luke's, with his account of that visit released in his weekly journal "Household Words" on January 17, 1852. Largely sympathetic to the hospital itself, Dickens noted how far treatment had come since the previous century's approach to mental health care, a time when "nothing was too monstrously cruel to be prescribed." Despite that progress, Dickens was moved by the sorry state of the patients, and the present account is used as a plea for greater public awareness for the suffering of the insane. Eight years later, the hospital management (with Dickens' permission) published "Curious Dance" as a pamphlet in a fundraising effort. There are two distinct issues to the edition: the first, in purple wrappers, has a period after "Tree" in the title and no variation to the type in the text; the second, in pink wrappers, has a comma after "Tree," and the final seven lines of page 19 are in bold type. These final lines were the hospital's exhortation for donations (apparently the plain type in the first issue had not had the desired financial return). Our offering includes both of these, as well as the original "Household Words" article tipped into the latter issue. Given the fragility of the three items, the condition here is extremely appealing--not to mention the attractive chemise that provides their protective presentation context. FIRST EDITION; one copy First Issue, the other second issue.
Seller Inventory # ST20687
Contact seller
Report this item
