The Tuggs's at Ramsgate." In: THE TUGGS'S AT RAMSGATE, by "Boz.

1837. Together with Other Tales, by Distinguished Writers. Philadelphia: Carey, Lea & Blanchard, 1837. Original light grey-green boards with red cloth spine and printed label.

First American Edition (being a volume in the "Library of Fiction"), limited to 1,000 copies issued in January 1837. The volume consists of the title tale by Dickens followed by nine other tales by other writers. This is the only one of "Boz"'s tales that, having appeared in a British periodical, did not then appear in one of the two book series of SKETCHES BY BOZ (see Smith I, p. 15, note 2). Instead it appeared in the British "Library of Fiction" in April 1836, and was not included in SKETCHES BY BOZ until that title was issued in monthly parts (Nov 1837 through June 1839). In America, Carey Lea & Blanchard published SKETCHES BY BOZ [second series] a month or two after this -- not including "Tuggs's" -- and then combined "Tuggs's" into a reprint of that volume in June of the same year. This is a good-plus copy (general soil and edge-wear notably to the rear joint, label rubbed but still legible, half of rear free endpaper missing). This is acceptable condition for a book that is so scarce in its original binding -- as these 1830s Philadelphia volumes were bound up using extremely delicate, cheap materials. Podeschi (Yale) B1; Wilkins p. 11 (reference to the "Select Library of Fiction"). Housed in a clamshell case with leather label.