THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD

first edition

1870 · London

by (BINDINGS - CHIVERS). (EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED BOOKS). DICKENS, CHARLES

London: Chapman and Hall, 1870. FIRST EDITION in book form. 215 x 140 mm. (8 1/2 x 5 1/2). vii, [1] (blank), 190 pp. Without the leaf of publisher's ads.
VERY ATTRACTIVE SCARLET CRUSHED MOROCCO BY CEDRIC CHIVERS (stamp-signed on rear turn-in) ca. 1911, covers framed by one blind and two gilt fillets, upper cover with INLAID PAINTED VELLUCENT ESCUTCHEON with the arms of the city of Rochester within a "tiled" gilt frame, the inlay enclosed by Art Nouveau floral design incorporating a heart motif, an onlaid citron morocco heart at the foot of the design, three raised bands dividing the spine into two small compartments, slightly larger compartment (truncated) with gilt titling, and an elongated compartment with inlaid vellucent and gilt escutcheon displaying the arms of the county of Kent, within similar Art Nouveau tooling featuring an onlaid citron heart, turn-ins ruled in gilt, with dot cornerpieces, leather hinges, red watered silk endleaves, all edges gilt. Frontispiece portrait, engraved vignette title, and 12 plates (as called for) by S. L. Fildes, EXTRA-ILLUSTRATED with reproductions of a black & white portrait of Fildes and an engraved portrait of John Forster (both taken from contemporary publications?), a reduced reproduction of the original green paper wrapper cover (all three of these mounted in heavy stock frames), additional calligraphed title page noting extra-illustrations, 16 ORIGINAL ILLUSTRATIONS, FOUR OF THESE WATERCOLORS, 13 dry-point, all but one mounted in heavy stock frames (one drawn directly on heavy stock), all captioned, and all with tissue guards. Front flyleaf with embossed ex-libris of Dana C. Bradford. With "The Last Book," a seven-page excerpt from Forster's "Life of Dickens," mounted in frames at rear, following a handwritten section title page. ◆Slight rippling of some of the inserted leaves, text faintly yellowed because of paper stock (as no doubt in all copies), perhaps a whisper of wear to the binding, but still and easily a very fine copy.

In terms of content, illustration, binding, and condition, this item is obviously of very considerable appeal. Dickens' final, unfinished novel, "Edwin Drood," is a murder mystery that remains unsolved to this day. Set in a lightly fictionalized version of Rochester, near which Dickens was living, the plot involves a marriage engagement between the two orphans Drood and Rosa Budd, made by their parents and distasteful to both of them. When Drood disappears, suspicion falls heavily on Neville, another orphaned young man, who is in love with Rosa. Neville has the reader's sympathy, and we can only hope that Drood's sinister and scheming uncle Jasper is the culprit. A distinguished artist who did many famous portraits in his later years, Samuel Luke Fildes (1844-1927) began as an illustrator known especially for powerful black and white images of social realism; his career was measurably advanced by his selection as the artist to execute the plates in "Edwin Drood." Cedric Chivers opened his Bath bindery in the 1880s, producing various kinds of fine decorative bindings, but specializing in a "vellucent" binding based on the 18th century painted vellum work of Edwards of Halifax. Here, he has used the vellucent technique to create the shields with the arms of Rochester and Kent inlaid on the cover and spine. The anonymous watercolors here are extremely attractive, being skillfully done in pleasing colors. They are mostly depictions of the novel's localities, generally in Rochester.. (Inventory #: ST18330)

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