2 volumes. xx, 288; x, 263, [1] pp. 36 page publisher's catalog at the rear of Volume 2. Illustrated with 12 etched plates by George Cruikshank; plus copper-engraved frontispiece portrait (of Grimaldi) in first volume. (8vo), contemporary half blue morocco and blue cloth, with five raised bands and titling in gilt to backstrip, top edge gilt; original brown cloth covers bound in to each volume. First Edition, second issue.

Second issue, with rare bordered state of the final plate “The Last Song.” The frontisportrait of Grimaldi in volume one is by W. Greatbatch after a painting by S. Raven. The added border to the final plate “The Last Song,” was an attempt at improving upon it with caricatures representative of Grimaldi’s various characters, the “mutilation has been ascribed to Alfred Crowquill and George Augustus Sala” (Eckel 154). This plate was quickly restored to it’s previous condition and is thus rare in this state. Thomson 24.

There has been a great deal of research involved in concluding how much Dickens actually contributed to this publication. The consensus is that Dickens did indeed thoroughly edit Grimaldi’s memoirs after it had been condensed by Thomas Egerton Wilks and sold to Richard Bentley. Dickens contributed greatly and undisputedly to the final chapter, and his style is plain throughout many parts of the book