Is She His Wife? or, Something Singular: A Comic Burletta in One Act
Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1877. Very Good. Item #8593
Boston: James R. Osgood and Company, 1877. First American Edition. 16mo (12.5cm.); publisher's reddish-brown decorative cloth embossed in black and gilt; 80pp.; illus. in text, publisher's ads printed in red on endpapers. Extremities a bit rubbed and spine lettering starting to dull, textblock a bit toned and shaken in binding; overall Very Good.
The third known edition of Dickens' early attempt at light comedy, though the first published appearance of 1837 is, as Eckels mournfully notes, almost certainly extinct, the last known copy having been lost in a fire. The first "available" English edition of ca. 1873 is an impossible rarity, making this American issue essentially the earliest edition on the market.
[ECKELS, p. 178; GIMBEL B62].
Price: $400.00