THE BRIDE'S CHAMBER ... Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Harry Stone. [Santa Monica, Calif.]: Waxwing Editions, 1996. Folio, pp. [1-2] [i-vi] vii [viii] 1-154 [155: colophon] [156: blank], thirty-four (four double page) illustrations by Kathryn Jacobi, publisher's blue cloth, front and spine panels stamped in gold, pictorial endpapers. First edition. Copy 176 of 375 numbered copies, signed by Stone and Jacobi. A ghost story first published in 1857 in HOUSEHOLD WORDS as part of "The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices," and long attributed to Dickens and Wilkie Collins as a joint production. In a paper published in Charles Dickens 1812-1870, a Centenary Volume (1969), Harry Stone demonstrated that the story was the work of Dickens alone. He called it a "wild ghost story" and "his desolate little ghost story," and argued that it used some of the same themes and personal events that went into the making of GREAT EXPECTATIONS. Remarkably, this story apparently had an earlier publication in book form -- which we have not verified -- appearing as "The Bride and Bridal Chamber" on pages [3]-26 of a rare 56-page paperbound pamphlet, ... EXTRACTS FROM HOUSEHOLD WORDS, RELATING TO MR. C. DICKENS' VISIT TO LANCASTER ... (Lancaster: Printed by G. C. Clark, Gazette Office, 1866). See Podeschi B250. A fine copy in clear acetate jacket as issued. The jacket is scuffed and scratched. (#178906).
Price: $45.00
"Limited Edition" on limitation leaf.