Dickens (Charles) Sketches by "Boz": Illustrative of Every-Day Life and Every-Day People. The Second Series. Complete in One Volume, first edition, first issue without list of illustrations on p.viii, half-title, etched frontispiece, additional vignette title and 8 plates by Cruikshank, 20pp. publisher's advertisements at end, yellow-coated endpapers, some light offsetting, original blind-stamped rose pink speckled cloth, spine decorated in blind and lettered in gilt, covers slightly rubbed and soiled, spine sunned and ends bumped, upper joint slightly cracked but holding firm, leaves uncut, preserved in modern custom chemise and crimson morocco-backed slip-case, 8vo, John Macrone, 1837.*** This, Charles Dickens' first published book, proved popular with four issues of the First Series being swiftly printed; however, the publisher's profits were ten times greater than those of Dickens. Therefore, with the publication of the Pickwick Papers proving a great success and Oliver Twist starting to appear in Bentley's Miscellany, Dickens realised he could do better with an alternative publisher. Backed by Chapman & Hall, he negotiated outright purchase of the copyright of Sketches by "Boz" leading to the publication in 1837 of this Second Series.Provenance: bookplate of George Barr McCutcheon; American Art Association, "First Editions of the Renowned Collection of George Barr McCutcheon Sale", 21st April 1925, lot 28.