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David Copperfield & Great Expectations — 2-Volume Lot
Charles Dickens
The Franklin Library, Franklin Center, Pennsylvania
1979–1980
Franklin Library Editions
Illustrated by Paul Degen and F. W. Pailthorpe
Fine. Both volumes are sound, square, firmly bound, clean, and unmarked, with only minimal evidence of handling. David Copperfield is bound in burgundy full leather with elaborate gilt decoration and raised spine bands. Great Expectations is bound in red cloth with a red leather spine, gilt decoration, and raised bands. Both volumes have bright all-edges gilt. David Copperfield has decorative patterned endpapers, while Great Expectations has attractive marbled endpapers. No dust jackets, as issued.
A handsome pair of illustrated Franklin Library editions. David Copperfield, published in 1980, features color illustrations by Paul Degen; the publisher specifically notes that this edition marked the first publication of Degen’s paintings for the novel. Great Expectations, published in 1979, contains a substantial suite of illustrations by F. W. Pailthorpe, including a frontispiece and numerous plates throughout; the publisher notes that these images were taken from a rare portfolio of etchings hand-colored by Pailthorpe and originally published in London in 1885. Both books combine decorative fine bindings, all-edges gilt, and illustrated interiors.
Two of Dickens’s major coming-of-age novels, David Copperfield and Great Expectations share many of the themes that made his fiction enduring: childhood adversity, social class, ambition, identity, love, and moral development. David Copperfield, first published in book form in 1850, is among Dickens’s most autobiographical novels, while Great Expectations, first published in book form in 1861, follows Pip’s transformation from an orphaned village boy through his encounter with wealth, class, and disillusionment. These Franklin Library editions make an especially attractive matching literary pair despite their deliberately different binding designs.
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