August 2004 The National Encyclopaedia - 25% off The National Encyclopaedia - a Dictionary of Universal Knowledge By Writers of Eminence in Literature, Science and Art. These are Volumes IV, V, VII, IX, X and XI from the set published in London by William Mackenzie. Undated, but apparently late Victorian (1870-1890?). As someone, who in a previous life, sold encyclopaedias and collected them (yes, I've always been an odd-ball) for several years, I've got to tell you, these are the most gorgeous and sumptuously illustrated encyclopaedia volumes I've ever seen. Each of the six volumes (of the 13 which made up the complete set) is illustrated with a frontispiece and about 40 other colour and b&w maps and engravings (many fold-out) covering some 20-25 subjects. (Click here for larger image) For example, in Vol X (b&w engraving unless otherwise noted): Cleopatra's Needle Obelisk (frontis); a coloured map of North America, 3pp of various systems of numerals (Arabic, Roman, Ancient Greek, etc), an orange; the orchideae; 2 colour plates of the Orders of Merit; 3 of various types and mechanisms of the organ; organ pipes; two of the orrery; orthoptera; owl; colour map of the Panama Canal; paper; parrot; 4 of passeres; and so on. And, of course there are inter-textual engravings as well. (Click here for larger image) Bevel-edged covers (dark olive, pebbled cloth with blind-stamped and gilt, Britannia design to front and black and gilt titles and decoration to spine) are rubbed and edgeworn with bumped corners. Text blocks are mostly clean and tight with minor variations to each, including previous owner's name inked to FEP of Vol VII; minor occasional foxing throughout and some pages starting to split from binding. The six volumes are listed separately at £10.95 each, but until 31 August 2004, Books at Star Dot Star is offering them as a set for only £49.28, meaning you save 25% (all prices plus shipping - all six books are very large and heavy and will require additional shipping charges). To order the set (£49.28 + Postage and Packing - the set is very large and heavy and will require additional shipping charges) please click here. August 2004   Charles Dickens Six-Volume Set - Save 25% This set of six volumes of classic Dickens was published by Hazell, Watson & Viney, Ltd in a lovely burgundy leatherette and includes eight of his best and most loved novels and his child's history of England and all illustrated by the original "Phiz" (Hablot K Browne) and Cruikshank engravings. (Click here for larger image) More than 5300 pages of Dickensian classic literature at a 25% savings. These six volumes are undated, but apparently mid 1930s and published by the Aylesbury publishers/printers, Hazell, Watson & Viney Ltd. The un-numbered (but apparently originally a 14-volume set) includes: The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit; The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby; The Adventures of Oliver Twist and Great Expectations (in a single volume); The Old Curiosity Shop and A Child's History of England (in a single volume); Bleak House; and A Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol (in a single volume). They are all bound in burgundy leatherette with some edgewear and rubbing and bumped corners. Front boards are blind-stamped with the author's signature (facsimile) within a blind-stamped cartouche. Spine has blind-stamped design and gilt titles and designs. EPS are brown marbleised design. Text block is clean and tight with very slight foxing and tanning to fore-edges. See individual descriptions below. The volumes sell individually for £12.95, but until 31 August 2004, Books at Star Dot Star is offering them as a set for only £58.28, a 25% savings (all prices plus shipping - the set is very large and heavy and will require additional shipping charges). To order the set (£58.28 + P&P) please click here. Tale of Two Cities and A Christmas Carol, 736pp inc frontis and other b&w illustrations by Phiz (Hablot K Browne) - Undated, but apparently ca 1930. Cities was his 12th novel and was published in instalments between April 1859 and Nov 1859. Apparently, unlike A Child's History of England for which he is said to have done no research, Dickens thoroughly researched the historical background for this novel which is set against the backdrop of the French Revolution. He relied heavily on his friend Thomas Carlyle's History of the French Revolution as a reference, leading "to the rather un-Dickensian feel of the book". Owing to his indebtedness at the time, Carol, arguably his most popular novel, was initially published as a complete book in Dec 1843 rather than in instalments. What more can one or need one say about this timeless classic. This is one volume of an un-numbered and undated matched set (said to be 14 volumes published in the mid 1930s) bound in burgundy leatherette with some edgewear and rubbing and bumped corners. Front boards are blind-stamped with the author's signature (facsimile) within a cartouche. Spine has blind-stamped design and gilt titles and designs. EPS are brown marbleised design. Text block is clean and tight with very slight foxing and tanning to fore-edges. To order (£12.95 + P&P) please click here. (Click here for larger image) Bleak House, 699pp inc frontis and other b&w illustrations by Phiz (Hablot K Browne) - Undated, but apparently ca 1930. His 9th novel, it was published in instalments between March 1852 and Sept 1853. Having observed the workings of the courts as a young reporter, Dickens had observed that "The one great principle of the English law is to make business for itself". He therefore, in this work, attempted to demonstrate the "evils" caused by long, drawn-out suits in the Courts of Chancery. Bleak House, though hardly Dickens' most popular work, is considered by scholars to be his finest work. This is one volume of an un-numbered and undated matched set (said to be 14 volumes published in the mid 1930s) bound in burgundy leatherette with some edgewear and rubbing and bumped corners. Front boards are blind-stamped with the author's signature (facsimile) within a cartouche. Spine has blind-stamped design and gilt titles and designs. EPS are brown marbleised design. Text block is clean and tight with very slight foxing and tanning to fore-edges. To order (£12.95 + P&P) please click here. (Click here for larger image) The Adventures of Oliver Twist and Great Expectations, 704pp inc frontis and other b&w illustrations by George Cruikshank - Undated, but apparently ca 1930. Two classics in one volume. Twist was published in instalments from Feb 1837 to April 1839. Dickens' 2nd novel, it is, of course, the story of the little orphan who wanted more. And finally got it. Expectations was published in instalments from Dec 1860 to Aug 1861. Dickens' 13th novel, it unusually was published without illustrations, as is the case here. One of his more autobiographical novels, it's often cited as Dickens' darkest work and was very well received, remaining one of Dickens' most popular works. This is one volume of an un-numbered and undated matched set (said to be 14 volumes published in the mid 1930s) bound in burgundy leatherette with some edgewear and rubbing and bumped corners. Front boards are blind-stamped with the author's signature (facsimile) within a cartouche. Spine has blind-stamped design and gilt titles and designs. EPS are brown marbleised design. Text block is clean and tight with very slight foxing and tanning to fore-edges. To order (£12.95 + P&P) please click here. (Click here for larger image) The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby, 720pp inc frontis and other b&w illustrations by Phiz (Hablot K Browne) - Undated, but apparently ca 1930. This was Dickens' 3rd novel (published in instalments between March 1838 and Sept 1839). In researching this novel, Dickens brought Phiz along. They visited the numerous boarding schools in Yorkshire travelling under assumed names. Nickelby, while including some of Dickens' best humour, deals in the main with the maltreatment of kids sent to such schools. This is one volume of an un-numbered and undated matched set (said to be 14 volumes published in the mid 1930s) bound in burgundy leatherette with some edgewear and rubbing and bumped corners. Front boards are blind-stamped with the author's signature (facsimile) within a cartouche. Spine has blind-stamped design and gilt titles and designs. EPS are brown marbleised design. Text block is clean and tight with very slight foxing and tanning to fore-edges. To order (£12.95 + P&P) please click here. (Click here for larger image) The Old Curiosity Shop and A Child's History of England, 752pp inc frontis and other b&w illustrations by Phiz (Hablot K Browne) - Undated, but apparently ca 1930. This one was published in instalments between April 1840 and Feb 1841 and was an outstanding success with sales in the neighbourhood of 100,000. It's the story of Nelly Trent (Little Nell) and her grandfather in their quest to escape the evil retribution of Daniel Quilp, oft said to be Dickens' most evil villain. Quilp is out to get Nell's grandfather because he's borrowed money with which to gamble and lost everything including the eponymous shop. As the tale nears its end, Nell exhausted and near starvation from the was at death's door. Will the Grim Reaper claim her? Tons of letters to Dickens begged him to save her and as the ship carrying copies of the magazine with the final episode arrived at New York harbour, fans shouted for the answer, "Is Little Nell Dead?" History, on the other hand, is said to be one of those books of which it's said, by Gilbert Keith Chesterton in his Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens (1911), for one, that "There are works of great authors manifestly inferior to their typical work which are yet necessary to their fame and their figure in the world... "A collection of the works of Dickens," Chesterton continued, "would be incomplete in an essential as well as a literal sense without his Child's History of England. It may not be important as a contribution to history, but it is important as a contribution to biography; as a contribution to the character and the career of the man who wrote it, a typical man of his time. That he had made no personal historical researches, that he had no special historical learning, that he had not had, in truth, even anything that could be called a good education, all this only accentuates not the merit but at least the importance of the book. For here we may read in plain popular language, written by a man whose genius for popular exposition has never been surpassed among men, a brief account of the origin and meaning of England as it seemed to the average Englishman of that age." This is one volume of an un-numbered and undated matched set (said to be 14 volumes published in the mid 1930s) bound in burgundy leatherette with some edgewear and rubbing and bumped corners. Front boards are blind-stamped with the author's signature (facsimile) within a cartouche. Spine has blind-stamped design and gilt titles and designs. EPS are brown marbleised design. Text block is clean and tight with very slight foxing and tanning to fore-edges. To order (£12.95 + P&P) please click here. (Click here for larger image) The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit, 720pp inc frontis and other b&w illustrations by Phiz (Hablot K Browne) - Undated, but apparently ca 1930. This was Dickens' 6th novel (published in instalments between January 1843 and July 1844). Chuzzlewit was written following his first trip to the USA and was rather poorly received. It deals with the greed of old man Chuzzlewit's relatives who hope to inherit his wealth. Seeing how poorly sales were going, Dickens sent the old man's grandson, young Martin, to the States in the hopes that such an adventure might fire up sales. But Dickens had an ulterior, and rather more personal motive for doing so, ie to vent his spleen with his animus toward the USA. Needless to say, American audiences, who previously had loved him, were outraged by this. With sales of the monthly instalments now really low, Dickens was in dire financial straits. He had financed his American venture with a loan from his publishers and Kate, his wife, was expecting their 5th child. To overcome the problem, he set about writing a short book he hoped to have ready for the always busy Christmas market. It was a little ditty he released in December 1843, the much loved, and perhaps best known Dickens novel, A Christmas Carol. This is one volume of an un-numbered and undated matched set (said to be 14 volumes published in the mid 1930s) bound in burgundy leatherette with some edgewear and rubbing and bumped corners. Front boards are blind-stamped with the author's signature (facsimile) within a cartouche. Spine has blind-stamped design and gilt titles and designs. EPS are brown marbleised design. Text block is clean and tight with very slight foxing and tanning to fore-edges. To order (£12.95 + P&P) please click here. (Click here for larger image)

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