Cant identify books...

Years ago my mother found a set of 12 books written by Charles Dickens under the floor boards in her attic. Every time I try to find copies that look the same on the internet I come up empty handed.
I can find other books that say dickens' works, just not one that looks the same as this. Anyone know what this is?
Thanks, Bob.

 

You need to provide photos of the title page and the publisher page in order to be identifiable.

 

Without more information all I can tell you is it looks to be 1880s or 1890s; I have a few set of books titled "Dickens Works" one of them is very similar to this set.

 

I had to use a quarter to hold the pages down, that's what that round thing is if you were wondering.

*edit I attached them instead.

 

That worked

 

This book set was published in 1888 in New York by the Worthington Co which at that time was located on the corner of Astor Place and Lafayette Street, NY. The book shown in the picture is probably worth about $20 a complete set in the same condition might sell for $100-$200.

 

Just a couple more questions if you don't mind, the only date I could find on the whole set was oct 1850 in "Sketches by Boz Great Expectations", why are there no dates? Also why cant I find any similar looking copies?

 

I'm not sure why one of the books would be dated 1850 (this publisher was at least not under the same name in 1850); it isn't that uncommon to have books from the late 19th century without a date. The reason it is hard to find other identical copies is probably because the company was small at the time and didn't print many copies.

 

There appears to be a volume from the set up on Biblio.com.

http://www.biblio.com/search.php?st...er=priceasc&pageper=20&dist=50&zip=&quantity=

Keep in mind that Dickens reprints were widely published (and still are.) Your set probably has more decorative value than other.

Debora

 

Another volume from the set appears to be on Alibris.com

http://www.alibris.com/booksearch?keyword=dickens+worthington&mtype=B&hs.x=0&hs.y=0&hs=Submit

Keep in mind this is asking price, not sale price.

Debora

 

Make your photos 480x640 please to full image them.

 

Um...is anyone else wondering why the books were hidden? I am wondering if it was a situation similar to that of Elsie Dinsmore's long-suffering father...

 

"Sketches by "Boz," Illustrative of Every-day Life and Every-day People (commonly known as Sketches by Boz) is a collection of short pieces by Charles Dickens originally published in various newspapers and other periodicals between 1833 and 1836. They were re-issued in book form, under their current title, in February and August 1836" (per Wikipedia)
And probably reprinted many times since then.
I don't think this would indicate that your books were published in 1850.
I've found that dates in books did not become common until after 1900, roughly; and before then, books may or may not have a publication date....as others have mentioned.
I'd trust Joshua Brown's date of 1888 for your set.

 

Thanks to everyone for the info, this has been bugging me for years. And it is a little baffling that the books were purposely placed under the floor boards of the attic... stolen maybe? It's a mystery.

*edit and the 1850 date comes from a prologue in the "sketches by boz" compilation book

 

Certainly a mystery. I can understand hiding a great number of things under an attic's floorboards but... Dickens?

Debora

 

As the "Elsie" reference is rather arcane (even for me), I will explain.

Little Miss Dinsmore was an obnoxiously religious zealot who, among other pious acts, refused to play a pretty tune on the piano for her (apparently godless) father because it was Sunday!

By the end of the book, Dinsmore pere has seemingly been converted to the Right Path, and he and little Elsie are heard lovingly quoting scripture to each other. (More or less)

Now, I always thought that once Elsie was in bed, her father relaxed in the study with a cigar and a good belt of Scotch.

Hence, my reasoning that there may have been an entire household of religious people who frowned upon any author less distinguished than St. Paul, and therefore, little Johnny had to hide his stash.

 

". . . why the books were hidden?"

Cash stuffed down the spine?

 

Well, now! there's a thought!!

 

In all the hundreds of books I've bought all I've found are receipts, 1 dried daisy and a $5 bill.

 

This actually made me look, only to find out the string (?) holding the pages together does not allow for a gap . Not rich today.