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"Bones and I"; or, The Skeleton at Home

G. J. Whyte-Melville

First published 1868
Publisher Chapman & Hall
Format Hardcover
Type Novel
Pages v+287
Price 9/-

    Published as a 7-part serial January to August 1868 in London Society: An illustrated magazine of light and amusing literature for the hours of relaxation #73-78 and #80; beginning vol 13, issue 73, page 3-12 (viewed at HathiTrust); unillustrated.

    Every serial part contains one or two chapters, and some parts including that for June do not make clear that there is more to follow. The book published in mid-June contains two further chapters; those constitute the last serial part, in the August issue, which ends as described below.
  • "Contemplating my companion" by A. Forestier, frontispiece of the undated Ward, Lock edition (viewed at HathiTrust)
  • "Bones and I", a long unsigned review in The Saturday Review 25.661 (1868-06-27) p860-61, suggests that it is in effect a collection of mildly sentimental essays. Well done. "Only the title and the introduction awake the expectation of something more highly flavoured than the book actually turns out to be."

  • 1st ed. This is the 1st ed. as a book, and the last two chapters may be published here for the first time (see the novel record).
  • Publication date and price from "List of New Books", The Athenaeum 2121 (1868-06-20) p862-63; this one "cr. 8vo. 9/ cl." That is: crown octavo paper size, price 9s., cloth (? some hard cloth cover inferred, as another listing states "cl. limp"). "Chapman & Hall's List", one week earlier in The Athenaeum 2120 p841 and two other weeklies, lists this book with flushright closing note "[This day." (Saturday -06-13).
  • HathiTrust Digital Library provides full view of one copy without original cover: -- title page begins "Bones and I;" -- Contents, p[iv]-v -- text spans p[1]-287; p287 footer "London: Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street and Charing Cross."

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