A Tale of Two Cities

A Tale of Two Cities, by Charles Dickens. First Edition, First State of Charles Dickens' best known and most widely-read work.

Notes

"In its tightly organized and highly romantic melodrama and the near-absence of typical 'Dickensian' humour and humorous characters, A Tale of Two Cities certainly stands apart from all his other novels" (ODNB).

The novel was also issued in monthly parts from April to November 1859 and serialized in Dickens's weekly journal All the Year Round in the same period, before publication in book form in November that year.

Description

This is indeed the first ever edition of Charles' Dickens' A Tale of Two Cities in book form, attractively bound in half-leather, likely many decades ago. This wonderful copy has all internal flaws present in the earliest states (Smith, p.98), as listed below:p. (vii), Contents - Chapter VII of Book the Second is titled "Monsieur the Marquis in Town" here, but "Monseigneur in Town" in the text.
p. (vii), Contents - Chapter VIII of Book the Second is titled "Monsieur the Marquis in the Country" here, but "Monseigneur in the Country" in the text.
p. (ix), Entry 8 - "Stryver" spelled "Striver" in caption.
p. 98 - appears to be comma rather than the usual period after the chapter number.
p. 134, line 12 - "affectionately" spelled "affetcionately".
p. 166, 5 lines up - "l" and "f" missing or not fully printed in "himself".
p. 213 - numbered "113" (corrected in later copies).
p. 238, line 14 - triple end quotes.

Dickens's great historical romance, set during the French Revolution, remains one of his best known and most widely-read works.

Condition

Half-bound in dark, olive green leather with marbled boards. Four raised bands and gilt lettering to spine. Leather and boards worn, especially around extremities. Corners significantly bumped. Marbled edges now slightly rubbed and faded.
Marbled endpapers with ex-library sticker to front. Pencil inscriptions to front, which could be easily erased. Minor amount of foxing within the book, which is rather impressive considering its age. Some spotting and marking throughout, with minimal signs of previous use. Pages are tightly bound with none of them loose.
Collated as complete with all plates present, including the frontispiece protected by a tissue guard (only present in some copies).
All content is clean and legible with only light fading to the title page, due to the acidity of the protective leaf. 
Sporadically, some very small page tears in places, likely from handling, however with minimal, if any, loss (and no loss from text or illustration). Some earmarks and creases to be expected.