DICKENS (CHARLES) The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Edited by Boz, FIRST EDITION IN THE ORIGINAL 1920 PARTS, Chapman and Hall, April 1838-October 1839DICKENS (CHARLES)The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. Edited by "Boz", FIRST EDITION IN THE ORIGINAL 19/20 PARTS, mixed issue, half-title, engraved portrait frontispiece by Daniel Maclise, 39 etched plates by Hablot K. Browne ("Phiz"), plates in parts 1 and 11 have publisher's imprint, part 4 has "visiter" for "sister" on p.123, line 17 (first state), part 5 has "latter" for "letter" on p.160, 6 lines up (first state), plate 29 is second issue with shortened title, all but 6 of the advertisements and slips called for by Hatton and Cleaver (without "Joseph Amesbury" in part 3; "Poor Man's Pill" in part 5; "on the First..." in part 7; "This day is published..." in part 8; "Tyas..." in part 17; "Hill's Seal Wafer" in part 19/20), loss to one corner of 2 advertisements in part 14, some soiling and browning (heavy to several plates), publisher's pictorial blue-green wrappers, most backstrips repaired or replaced, corners frayed or chipped to parts 1, 18 and 19/20, preserved in drop-backed cloth case [Eckel, pp.64-66; Gimbel A40; Hatton & Cleave, pp.129-160], 8vo, Chapman and Hall, April 1838-October 1839"Dickens was a busy twenty-five year old in 1837. While the final number of Pickwick was quickly being bought up from the bookseller's stalls, and Oliver Twist was highlighting the pages of Bentley's Miscellany, the young novelist signed a contract in November with Chapman and Hall to produce a manuscript for another serial tale beginning the following March. The new work was published in the same manner and form as Pickwick, but Dickens received ten times the amount per numbera healthy 150as he received for his first novel. The first number, which appeared in April 1838, sold over 48,000 copies.... Nicholas Nickleby clearly shows Dickens's maturing power.... With the good-natured yet temperamental Nickleby providing the story's dramatic center, Dickens learned how to weave parallel plots into a unified structure, completing his transition from journalist to novelist" (Grolier, Essential Parts, p.14.).Provenance: Various early ink names on several upper wrappers; Sotheby's, 23 March 2005, lot 63.