A Tale of Two Cities. Illustrated by Hablot K. Browne (“Phiz”). 1875

DICKENS, Charles (1812–1870). A Tale of Two Cities. London: Chapman and Hall, 193 Piccadilly; Philadelphia: J. B. Lippincott & Co., 1875.

Illustrated Library Edition. Complete text, contemporarily bound in two volumes. Octavo (8vo). Volume I, pp. 1–198; Volume II, pp. 199–431. Contemporary half dark green morocco over marbled boards; spines gilt in compartments with five raised bands and lettered “Dickens’ Works,” “Tale of Two Cities,” and Vols. I and II. Marbled endpapers matching the boards; top edges gilt. With engraved title and fifteen full-page plates by Hablot K. Browne (“Phiz”), with tissue guards.

Issued as a single volume in Chapman and Hall’s Illustrated Library Edition, the present copy has been contemporarily divided and handsomely bound in two physical volumes, retaining the complete continuously paginated text and illustrations.

Provenance: Bookplate of Benjamin F. Ayer to the front pastedown of each volume, likely that of Benjamin Franklin Ayer (1825–1903), prominent Chicago attorney and father of Pulitzer Prize-winning novelist Margaret Ayer Barnes.

Contents generally clean and unmarked, with light, even toning. Volume II with green staining to the upper margins of several leaves near the end, extending from approximately p. 411 through the rear endpaper. Front hinges starting though holding; front free endpapers loose but present. Bindings rubbed, with moderate wear to the edges and corners and chipping and wear to the spine ends and raised bands. A Good+ complete copy of the Illustrated Library Edition, attractively bound in two volumes.

[Attributes: Hard Cover; Illustrated; Two Volume Set; Provenance.]