The Nonesuch Dickens.

With the original steel plate 'Fagin in the condemned Cell' from Oliver Twist, with letter of authenticity from the publisher. Text based upon the Charles Dickens Edition, the last to be revised by Dickens himself.

After the Depression of the early thirties, the Nonesuch Press was effectively saved from bankruptcy by the intervention of the American, George Macy. 'The Dickens' set was very much his project and it was due to his great energy that it was produced so quickly. It was described at the time by the Daily Telegraph as 'one of the most glorious achievements of publishing in our time. Robert Lynd in the News Chronicle declared it the most pleasant Dickens to read that has ever been published, while The Scotsman observed: No more handsome edition of Dickens has yet appeared; nor is it easy to conceive of any which might surpass this one.' - Dreyfus.

Dr. Raymond Lister (1919–2001), miniaturist, illustrator and writer, born and lived in Cambridge. In 1934 Lister was apprenticed to the family firm, eventually becoming a director of George Lister & Sons, specialising in architectural metalwork and carrying out restoration around the country. He was made Prime Warden of the Blacksmiths' Company, 1989–90. Dr Lister was a noted art historian, specialising in British romantic art, a fellow of Wolfson College and a syndic of the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, 1981–90. Among his many books were Samuel Palmer and his Etchings, 1969; The Letters of Samuel Palmer, 1975; George Richmond, 1981; and Catalogue Raisonné of the Works of Samuel Palmer, 1988. His autobiography, With My Own Wings, appeared in 1994. Lister studied privately with the miniaturist Albert Cousins.

Nonesuch edition, number 433 of 877 limited sets; 25 volumes, including 'Dickensiana', large 8vo (260 x 180mm); with illustrations printed from the original plates, pages are fresh; publisher's vari-coloured cloth, morocco labels, top edges gilt on the rough, others uncut, a near-fine set.

Dreyfus 108.