Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens First Edition 1857 First Issue Illustrated Phiz
 
Little Dorrit by Charles Dickens – First Edition, First Issue (1857) Illustrated by H. K. Browne
 
Bibliographic Details
 
Title: Little Dorrit
Author: Charles Dickens (1812–1870)
Illustrator: H. K. Browne (“Phiz”)
Edition: First Edition, First Issue (1857)
Publisher: Bradbury and Evans, 11 Bouverie Street, London
Printer: Bradbury and Evans, Printers, Whitefriars, London
Date: 1857
Illustrations: Forty engraved plates by H. K. Browne, including an illustrated frontispiece and vignette title page – all present and accounted for.
Pagination: xiv + 625 pp. (Pages 151–154 missing, otherwise complete.)
Format: Octavo (approx. 21.3 × 14.3 × 5.5 cm)
Weight: Approx. 1038 g
 
Binding and Exterior Condition
 
Bound in its original Victorian half leather binding, with a panelled spine and gilt title. The spine, corners, and inner board edges are leather-bound, while the boards are covered in marbled paper.

The binding remains intact and stable, though shows heavy wear consistent with age: rubbing and scuffing to boards, a partial split along the upper front spine joint, bumping and rips to corners, and patches of fading. The gilt title remains legible.
 
This is a well-preserved survivor of its original 1857 binding, rarely encountered in unrestored form.
 
Interior Condition
 
The book opens to coloured endpapers and pastedowns, with a penned inscription to Elizabeth Crouch on the front free endpaper. (No verified connection to Dickens or his circle has been established.)
 
The pages are lightly tanned with expected foxing on plates and the illustrated title page, along with a few small stains on the frontispiece and title, not obscuring text or image.

Pages are generally clean and uncreased, with occasional light marks.
Small rip to the plate facing p.40 (entering slightly into image, not obscuring).
Occasional other small edge rip, not affecting text.
Small pinholes to p.339 and overleaf where sewing thread passes.
Slight cracks between endpapers and pastedowns.
Pages 39–42 are attached at the upper margin only; pages 55–58 are detached but present.
Pages 151–154 are missing – there is no sign of removal or remnants, possibly an early binding omission.
Otherwise, all other text and all 40 plates are present.
 
First-Issue Points Verified
 
This copy exhibits all major first-issue identifiers for Little Dorrit (1857):
Three-line errata statement on p. xiv
Misprint “William” instead of “Frederick” (p.317, line 27)
Signature B2 (not BB2) on p.371
Character name “Rigaud” for “Blandois” on pp.469–474
These confirm this example as a true First Edition, First Issue, printed and bound in 1857 by Bradbury & Evans.
 
Historical Context
 
Little Dorrit was first published serially between December 1855 and June 1857, then as a single volume later that year.

One of Dickens’s great social novels, it explores themes of debt, bureaucracy, and compassion, centring on Amy Dorrit, whose father is imprisoned in the Marshalsea Debtors’ Prison. The novel is a powerful satire on Victorian society, the financial system, and the British class structure.
 
The original illustrations by Hablot Knight Browne (Phiz) add exceptional character to the narrative, capturing Dickens’s tone with visual wit and pathos.
 
Provenance
 
Front free endpaper inscribed to Elizabeth Crouch, an early 19th-century ownership marking of unknown provenance.
 
Dimensions
 
Approx. 21.3 × 14.3 × 5.5 cm
Weight approx. 1038 g