Household Words (19 Volumes) including a last Volume Selection from Household Words , James Miller, N.Y.(last issue dated May, 28, 1859)

London or New York, 1859. A mixed set some with London imprints. Volumes I-IV & XIII (Office, 16, Wellington Street) and some with New York, Dix and Edwards (Vols. VI & VII) New York: McElbrath and Barker (Vol. VIII) etc.. 20 vols. 8vo. Original green blind-stamped pebbled cloth. One volume slightly split, rest very fresh. Bookplate of St. Paul's School, ex dono plate of Mr. Francis F. Randolph, small unobtrusive blind stamp on title pages. A mixed set some with London imprints. Volumes I-IV & XIII (Office, 16, Wellington Street) and some with New York, Dix and Edwards (Vols. VI & VII) New York: McElbrath and Barker (Vol. VIII) etc. 20 vols. 8vo. Household Words was considerably more popular in England than America and its publishing history in America is "almost absolutely dark, as is the whole subject of periodical printing and 'arrangements' ... The 1850's were years of copyright agitation in America, and certainly no legally protective arrangements were possible to the English publishers before the journal was discontinued in 1859. And it is not surprising that the course of Household Words was not so brilliant in American as was that of its successor All the Year Round ... It was partially a local work and not quite so interesting to an America as to an English reader; it had changed publishers too often; there was no legitimate arrangement between the English proprietors and the American publishers; it was sold at too high a price; it had been published by inexperienced people and therefore had not received proper publicity and promotion; and its lack of pictorial illustration made it unpopular with the masses" (Buckler, William E., "'Household Words' in America," in Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, vol. 45, pp. 160-66.) Household Words was published every Wednesday from March 1850 to May 1859.