Charles Knight (1791-1873) English, London First Edition 6 Volume Set (1841-1844). 

Size: (each) 10 1/2 X 7 1/2 X 1 in. 

This is another set of books about London, but by Charles Knight, and we believe it’s a first edition of this collection of articles and essays on London life, complete in six volumes. Charles Knight (1791 - 1873) was an English publisher, editor and author, and a noted figure in 19th-century publishing. The son of a bookseller and printer at Windsor, he was apprenticed to his father. When he finished his indentures, he took up journalism and developed an interest in owning several newspapers, and in 1823, he started Knight's Quarterly Magazine, which had notable contributors such as Thomas Macaulay. It lasted only for six issues, but it made Knight's name as publisher and author, beginning a career which lasted over forty years. He edited and published London starting in 1841, a heavily illustrated history of the city, and the collection reflected the intellectual richness of Victorian London. The books are three-quarter bound, with five-raised bands, gilt rules and gilt-lettering on the spine, marbled boards and marbled endpapers, an illustrated title page in each volume, each volume has one page of Contents with the names of the authors for each article, followed by an Analytical Table of Contents, which lists all the illustrations by chapter, and the top edges are gilt. Volume I has an illustrated frontispiece, an Analytical Table of Contents that runs from vii - xx,  a four-page commentary, and 444 pages of text. Volume II has an Analytical Table of Contents that runs from v - xx, and 416 pages of text. The third volume has an eighteen page Analytical Table of Contents (iv - xxi), and 400 pages of text. The fourth volume has an Analytical Table of Contents that runs from iv - xx and 400 pages of text. Volume V has a twenty-page Analytical Table of Contents that runs from v - xxiv and 400 pages of text, and the last volume also has an eighteen page Analytical Table of Contents (v - xxiv), 400 pages of text, and a two-page Alphabetical Table of Contents at the rear. The books all measure 10 1/2 x 7 1/2 inches wide and are in pretty decent shape, except for Volume III, which has a detached front cover, but that can be repaired. The bindings are tight in all the volumes and the pages and illustrations are pretty clean, with light brown spots on the first few blanks endpapers that follow the marbled endpapers, and there’s light rubbing along the edges of the spine and light wear at a couple of tips, wear on the crowns of all volumes, but overall, an attractive set, except for the detached cover on the third volume. There aren’t many full sets out there. We found bunches of single volumes from the set, and and less than ten complete sets on the rare book website we use, prices for complete sets run anywhere from $150 to $350, and we’ve started the bidding low to account for repairs to the detached cover.