First edition. Original publisher's presentation binding of full green morocco with gilt titles and decorated raised bands to spine. Borders stamped in blind on the covers. All edges gilt. Author's presentation copy to the radical political journalist Albany William Fonblanque, with an autograph letter signed from Dickens presenting the book bound in. Steel engraved frontispiece of Dickens after D. Maclise, and 39 full page steel engraved plates in the text by Phiz [Halbot Browne]. A very good copy with a little wear to the extremities, neat repairs to the upper corners and base of the spine and a superficial split to the front joint. Hinges split but holding. Fonblanque's ownership signature to the front endpaper. Housed in a half morocco slipcase.

The presentation letter from Dickens, dated 14 November 1839, reads,
"My Dear Sir, Do me the favor [sic] to accept a copy of Nickleby, and with it the assurances of my warm regards and admiration. I shall be removing in the course of a few weeks nearer to your neighbourhood - Devonshire Terrace, York Gate - and when this comes to pass, I cherish the hope of seeing you more frequently. Believe me always my dear sir faithfully yours Charles Dickens".
It is telling that the outside edge of the letter is gilded in the same way as the page edges of the book, suggesting Dickens might have given the letter to his publishers to be tipped into the book prior to binding. The gap between publication in book form (23 October) and date of the letter, would be consistent with the time it might take to prepare copies for presentation bindings.
Fonblanque had risen to prominence as a major voice of English radicalism, inspired by Owenite ideals. "Fonblanque's period of greatest influence as a journalist was from 1826 to 1837, when he was a prominent 'philosophic radical'. He was strongly opposed to the aristocratic principle, a fierce champion of suffrage extension, and thus a leading supporter of the 1832 Reform Bill... Thomas Carlyle, from a different political perspective, considered that Fonblanque's journalism made him 'the cleverest man living of that craft at present'" (ODNB). During the 1830s, his radicalism eased, and he moved closer to mainstream whiggism in his subsequent journalism, though he remained esteemed and feared for his force and wit. Dickens met Fonblanque through his friend and future biographer John Forster. The pair thereafter moved in similar circles; Fonblanque attended Dickens's dinner parties and later wrote political leaders for Dickens's newspaper the Daily News.
Nickleby is Dickens's third novel. Following on from the success of Pickwick Papers and Oliver Twist, it owes much to the author's admiration of the picturesque eighteenth century novels of Smollet and Fielding. Nickleby marks a development in Dickens's narrative style, and can be considered the first of his 'romances'. His characters show an emotional sensibility that is not sentimental nor at the expense of realism.

Stock ID: 42823