DICKENS, Charles "Nicholas Nickleby" [Chapman & Hall, 1854]

DICKENS, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby.

London: Chapman and Hall, 1854. With illustrations by Phiz. 8.75" x 5.5", xvi + 624pp with 40 plates, including the frontispiece portrait. Half black leather over marbled boards with marbled papers and edges. Bookplate of William H. Blake, Royal Navy inside front board. Foxed, primarily on plates. Leather well rubbed, as pictured. Front hinge just starting. Good+.

Captain William Hans Blake (1832–1874) served with distinction in the Royal Navy, participating in the Baltic, China, New Zealand, and Australian stations, and commanding the Naval Brigade during the Second Ashanti War, where he died from fever contracted on campaign. His career was marked by conspicuous bravery, including a serious wound in New Zealand that earned him a lifelong pension, and his personal effects—swords, epaulettes, and diaries—are preserved at the National Maritime Museum, offering a tangible link to a remarkable 19th-century naval life.