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2 volumes. viii, 400; vi, 393 pp. Engraved title-pages, 107 engraved plates and vignettes in the text. (8vo) 22x13.5 cm (8¾x5½"), later red morocco by Riviere, gilt rules, decorations and lettering, top edges gilt, others untrimmed. Original cloth spine strips bound in. First Edition in book form, preceded by the issue in parts.

A humorous anthology of prose sketches of London types and characters, each accompanied by a portrait by Kenny Meadows. Subjects include the pawnbroker, the stockbroker, the mute, the fashionable authoress, the auctioneer, etc. The contributors include Thackeray (three sketches), Douglas Jerrold, William Howitt, Leigh and Thornton Hunt and Mrs. Gore. Meadows was a popular illustrator of the time. The sketches by Thackeray and Jerrold are some of their earliest published works. Handsomely bound.