McHuston Booksellers

Rare, Collectible, & Otherwise

Tag: Charles Dickens

Holding Some History

August 29, 2016 /

Who knows how many are left in the world, and I have one in my hands, right now! (Well, in truth, I had to put it down in order to type this…) It’s a double-first, of sorts.

In 1859, Charles Dickens won an argument with his publisher that had gone to court, and as a result, he started his own magazine. It was a weekly journal that he called “All the Year Round.” He imagined it as a literary paper, and found a quote from Shakespeare to supply the name for his new enterprise. In OTHELLO, Wild William had a passage that went: The Story of Our Lives from Year to Year – All the Year Round.

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Dickens put it on the masthead of his first issue, which was dated Saturday, April 30, 1859.

And that was the issue that was in my hand before I set it down to type. Issue No. 1 – right there under the name of Charles Dickens.

I’m enough of a history nut that I imagine what was going on when these pages came off the press and were delivered to his subscribers. The US Civil War was still years in the future. Braum’s Concerto in D-minor hit the Top 10 in new releases. The elevator was invented, so folks could finally reach the upper floors.

And on July 11, A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens – was published.

In July. But here in my hands (I picked it back up, but I’m setting it back down again…), is/was the very first printed version of that epic Dickens work, having made its April debut in the premier edition of his new journal.

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So. It is the Number One issue of the new magazine, containing the introduction of his new novel-to-be.

A Tale of Two Cities was serialized with a chapter or part of a chapter appearing each week in the journal. It was through his subscribers that Dickens was able to make a living while continuing the writing process. Subscribers not only got first crack at the story – as an added bonus, when the story was concluded the collected chapters could be dropped by Chapman and Hall publishers to be bound into a single volume.

A great addition to any home library!

An average first edition (in book form, as opposed to bound from subscriber chapters) can be found in the neighborhood of $4000. And I suppose the TRUE first edition is the copy issued as an entire book.

In the meantime though (and since I’m not likely to ever own a true First Edition copy), I’ll have to be satisfied with having a copy of the first PRINTED edition of the story in my hands (okay, technically – on the desk to my left) along with Issue No. 1 of ALL THE YEAR ROUND. Geek fun for Dickens fans.

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was at the bookstore that serves lunches…

Come visit!

McHuston

Booksellers & Irish Bistro
Rose District
122 South Main St. Broken Arrow OK!

What the Dickens?

December 29, 2012 /

I’ve been spending time with a favorite family, one that I’ve not visited in some time. The tribulations facing William Dorrit and his grown children make for some great drama, as co-presented by the BBC and WGBH-Boston in an adaptation of Little Dorrit, by Charles Dickens.

Somehow, I missed the whole miniseries when it aired in the US in 2010, but thanks to the hand-held viewing device (you know the thing to which I refer, which shall go un-named here…) I’ve been able to catch up on the episodes.

Much of the real-life of Mr. Dickens was woven into the fabric of his stories, and the patriarch of the Dorrit clan begins the story imprisoned for debt – just as Dickens’ own father had been jailed. A social reformer on many issues, Dickens points out the lack of logic in detaining debtors, who otherwise might have been able to work to pay off their creditors.

Although the work was published serially more than 150 years ago, his topics still reflect the times. One of the subplots involves a banker who is said to turn his clients investments to gold with unfailing returns – in the manner of present-day schemer Bernie Madoff. And – just as the financial scheme of Madoff’s house came crashing down, Mr. Merdle suffers financial and social ruin when his investment scheme eventually fails. The characters in Little Dorrit have their financial security destroyed due to the collapse of what had been considered a no-risk investment, as did the victims of Bernie Madoff.

Where Dickens created distinct characters to enliven his novels, the BBC production has followed faithfully. Andy Serkis plays the evil villain Mssr. Rigaud, who hisses about as much as the character Gollum in the Lord of the Rings movies, also played by Serkis. And Mr. Pancks, the snorting and nervous-twitching rent collector is done justice by British actor Eddie Marsan.

I realize though, that it isn’t the Dorrit family I’m especially fond of – it is the telling of their story by Charles Dickens that draws me in. During William Dorrit’s stint in prison he is alternately pompous and sniveling. When he is freed at long last, his newly-found fortune inspires conceit and condescension rather than inspiration for the greater good. His daughter Fanny was already snobbish before the family fortunes changed, and son Edward is idle and feckless regardless of his financial position.

Only Little Dorrit – Amy – who was born in the debtors’ prison, remains her kindhearted self throughout.

Perhaps if I had offered a Little Dorrit action figure instead of the one of Mr. Dickens (complete with removable pen and hat!), it might have sold during the holiday season. I’m a firm believer though, that Dickens is the gift that keeps on giving!

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