F. J. Harvey Darton — Dickens Positively the First Appearance

London, The Argonaut Press, 1933. First edition. Hardback. The first edition, first impression of this illustrated centenary review with a bibliography of Sketches by Boz, with the original unclipped dust wrapper. The first edition, first impression of the work. With four monochrome vignette illustrations after George Cruikshank's illustrations for Sketches by Boz, and a frontispiece portrait of Charles Dickens as a young man, from a painting in Mr Charles J. Sawyer's collection. Collated complete. With the original unclipped dust wrapper.Dickens Positively the First Appearance is a scholarly examination of both Charles Dickens' first published work, A Dinner at Poplar Walk (The Monthly Magazine, December 1883), and his adoption of the peculiar pen name "Boz". It also includes a bibliography of Sketches by Boz and of the illustrations created by Cruikshank for its first four publications. Bound in the original publisher's quarter cloth and paper wraps, with the original unclipped dust wrapper. Externally, excellent with fractional paste action at the meeting of the backstrip and the rear paper wrap. A touch of bumping to the extremities. Wrapper has some age toning, heaviest to the spine and top edge, in addition to some minor handling marks and a couple of marginal chips to the head of the spine. Light offsetting, heaviest to the front pastedown. Internally, sections of the binding are strained. Pages are generally bright and clean barring marginal age toning and the odd spot. Very Good Indeed . Ill.: Multiple illustrations after George Cruikshank. Very Good Indeed/Very Good Indeed.