DICKENS | Pictures from Italy, 1846, first edition

DICKENS, CHARLES

Pictures from italy. London: Bradbury and Evans for the Author, 1846

8vo (175 x 118mm.), FIRST EDITION, advertisement leaf at beginning and end, half-title, woodcut illustrations by Samuel Palmer, original blue diaper cloth, covers stamped in blind, spine lettered in gilt, pale yellow endpapers, backstrip lightly darkened and lightly frayed at head and foot

A LOVELY COPY. Dickens had agreed to edit Bradbury and Evans' new newspaper the Daily News at the beginning of 1846. However, by February he had resigned due to commitments elsewhere. He nevertheless continued to write pieces for the paper including a series of "Travelling Letters" published between 21 January and 11 March based on his travels in France and Italy. It was this series that formed the basis of the present book, amended for publication. Five of the essays published between 23 February and 16 March argued against capital punishment.

LITERATURE:

Smith II: 7; Eckel p. 126