CHARLES O'MALLEY, THE IRISH DRAGOON.

Edited by
HARRY LORREQUER
[Charles Lever]

WILLIAM CURRY, JUN AND CO.
[1840] & 1844

Volume one is a first edition, Volume 2 later.
Charles Lever's second novel, based on the experiences of family friend Colonel John Mackay in the peninsular Campaign. The other principal characters also have their origins in Dubliners whom Lever knew well: Richard Martin, M. P., is the model for Godfrey O'Malley; Sir Harry Boyle is based on Sir Boyle Roche; the dashing female lead, Baby Blake, is a Miss French of Moneyvoe, Castle Blakeney.

Lever moved much of the action in his second novel, Charles O'Malley, the Irish Dragoon to the Continent at the time of the Peninsular War and the Battle of Waterloo, drawing on what he calls 'the inexhaustible store of fun and buoyancy within me'.

23 x 14 cm. Volume 1. xi + 348pp + frontis + engraved title page & 20 plates by 'Phiz'. Original vertically-ribbed green cloth, spine decorated in gilt (officer in a shako), boards decorated in blind.

Very good condition. The spine has been repaired with new cloth. Boards bumped and worn on the edges. Armorial bookplate on the front pastedown, previous owners name on the front free endpaper. Plates heavily foxed. All plates present, binding firm.

Volume 2. viii + 336 pp + frontis + engraved title page & 20 plates.
Disbound with the boards missing. All plates foxed and some pages also. All plates present and binding firm.