Description
From the personal library of Charles Dickens, the first edition of Sermons in Sonnets by Chauncy Hare Townshend.
Octavo, vii, 323pp. Finely bound in full red morocco, gilt trim along borders, gilt turn-ins, and gilt edges. Five raised bands, title in gilt on spine. Bindery’s imprint, “Chapman & Hall 186 Strand,” at top of front endpaper. Solid text block, light wear to corners and hinges. Faint toning to endpapers, a near fine copy.
Includes a bookplate belonging to Charles Dickens affixed to front endpaper with a lion facing left. Another bookplate from the estate sale of Charles Dickens with the notation: “Gadshill Place, June, 1870.”
Gad’s Hill Place in Higham, Kent was Dickens’ home from 1857 until his passing on June 9, 1870. The contents of the library at Gad’s Hill were hand-written by Carles Dickens Jr., who inherited the library upon his father’s passing. This copy is found in the Dickens Jr. catalogue, Henry Sotheran’s catalogue (c. 1871), and the Stonehouse catalogue (1878, 1935).
In addition to writing and painting, Chauncy Hare Townshend (1798-1868) studied mesmerism throughout the 1830s. He succeeded Dr. John Elliotson as the chief British exponent of mesmerism. Elliotson introduced Townshend to Charles Dickens, and the pair bonded over their mutual interests in hypnotic arts and writing. They remained lifelong friends. Townshend’s 1859 poetry book, The Three Gates, was dedicated to Dickens, and in return, Dickens dedicated Great Expectations (1861) to Townshend. One of the Sonnets in this volume is addressed “To the Author of Oliver Twist, etc.”
