London – If you set out to build a library of classic works of English literature, the novels of Charles Dickens would probably top the list. At least that was the view of Jeremy and Penny Martin whose marvelous collection of first editions, including works by Isaac Walton, Thomas Hardy and Joseph Conrad as well as almost all of Dickens’ output, put more 20 years to prepare. Now the Library of Jeremy and Penny Martin arrives at Bonhams in London where it will go on sale on Tuesday 26 April. The sale is led by a first edition of Dickens’ U.S. General Circulation Notes inscribed on October 19, 1842, the day after its publication, to the eminent 19th-century historian and thinker, Thomas Carlyle. Estimate: £40,000-60,000.
Carlyle and Dickens were mutual friends and admirers. Dedicated Dickens hard times (1854) at Carlyle and was inspired by the latter’s masterpiece The French Revolution: a story (1837) as inspiration for his 1859 novel A tale of two cities.
Other Dickens first editions include:
• dark house with an inscribed dedication to his close friend Mark Lemon. Like Dickens, Mark Lemon, who founded and edited the long-running humor magazine Punch, was a founding member of the Guild of Literature and Art formed in 1851 to help poor authors and artists. Other founding members included Bulwer Lytton, Wilkie Collins and John Tenniel. In 1853, Dickens presented each of them with a copy of the first edition of dark house to appear in book form with the inscribed dedication “in remembrance of our friendly union with my companions in the Guild of Literature and Art”. Estimate between £40,000 and £60,000.
• great expectations (1861) estimate: £25,000-35,000; Sketch of Boz (1839) inscribed in the name of English librarian and antiquarian William Upcott estimate: £20,000-30,000; Barnabas Rudge (1841) Registered with Mrs (Elizabeth) Smithson on New Year’s Day 1842 Estimate: £15,000-25,000 and The old curio shop (1841) inscribed to author and poet Thomas Bardel Brindley, estimate: £15,000-25,000.
Bonhams Head of Books and Manuscripts, Matthew Haley, said: “This is a wonderful library full of valuable classic English-language writers. Jeremy and Penny insisted on the best and paid great attention to provenance, in many cases ensuring purchases at iconic private collection sales. Their great enthusiasm for the works of Charles Dickens, in particular, shines through and they have found exciting association copies, no more than the copy of U.S. General Circulation Notes inscribed for Thomas Carlyle – from one 19th century giant to another.
Other notable books include:
• First edition of Britain’s birds, by John Gould published between 1862 and 1873 in five volumes. Estimate: £30,000-50,000.
• First edition of Isaac Walton’s most famous work in angling literature The complete fisherman of 1653. Distinguished former owners of this copy included Lord Rosebery, Liberal Prime Minister 1894-1895, who bequeathed it in his will to his son-in-law, the Marquess of Crewe. Estimate: £25,000-35,000.
• First edition of Gulliver’s Travels by Jonathan Swift, published in four volumes in 1726. The must-have novel of its time was a ruthless satirical work that ridiculed Swift’s many pet peeves and undermined the contemporary fashion for travel writing. Gulliver’s Travels was an overnight success and has never lacked readers since. A mainstay of English literature, its withering dissection of human folly still packs a satirical punch centuries later. Estimate: £25,000-35,000.
• First editions of all the major works of Thomas Hardy including Under the Greenwood Tree (1872), Far from the madding crowd (1874) and Tess of the d’Urbervilles (1891). Each volume is estimated between £10,000 and £15,000. For Jeremy and Penny, Hardy was another favorite writer. Their collection is particularly rich in Hardy’s early works – he produced one novel a year between 1871 and 1874 – and also includes a rare first edition of Desperate Remediesestimate: £8,000-12,000.
• First editions of Joseph Conrad’s novels, including two that shed light on his relationship with English novelist and playwright John Galsworthy. Typhoon (1903) is inscribed ‘To J Galsworthy most affectionately from Jph Conrad’ The copy of Victory (1915) which Conrad sent the same year to Galsworthy and his wife bore the inscription ‘To dear Jack and Ada with love from J Conrad’. Copies are estimated between £5,000 and £7,000 each.