Charles Dickens American Notes for General Circulation 2 Volumes 1842 1st UK VG

First edition with "MDCCCXLII (1842)" on title page. First printing with p. 'x' misnumbered 'xvi' to contents page of volume I. Publisher: London Chapman and Hall, 1842. 5" x 7.75" Volume 1: [xii] 1-308p. Volume 2: [viii] 1-306p. [vi Advertisements]. Original reddish brown horizontally ribbed cloth: upper and lower covers with decorative floral frame stamped in blind; titles in gilt to the spine. Yellow pastedowns and endpapers. No dust jacket.

Book Condition: Very Good. Volume 1: Chipping to spine. "A" of American Notes on spine missing. Binding is strong. Light foxing to preliminary pages. Text is clean. Volume 2 Spine edges have closed tears. Binding is strong. Text is clean. 

A travelogue by Charles Dickens detailing his trip to North America from January to June 1842. In the USA he gathered notes for his satirical novel Martin Chuzzlewit. Although generally impressed by what he found, he could not forgive the continued existence of slavery in the United States, and the final chapters of the book are devoted to a criticism of the practice. He spent less time in Canada, but his impressions of British North America were generally favorable. What criticisms he has are humorous, so that in Kingston, "one half of it appears to be burnt down, and the other half not to be built up" (vol. II p. 194).