DICKENS, Charles. The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby. London: Chapman and Hall, 1839. First edition in book form, with a tipped-in envelope signed by Charles Dickens on the initial blank, 8vo (214 x 130mm.) Portrait frontispiece, 39 plates by 'Phiz'. (Spotting and browning to plates, occasional spotting to text, toning.) Contemporary red half-calf over marbled paper-covered boards, green morocco lettering piece to the second compartment, gilt and blind to the rest with repeating foliate gilt to the raised bands (rubbing to boards and extremities). Note: the envelope is addressed to writer Richard Hengist Horne. Dickens employed Horne in 1849 as a sub-editor on 'Household Words'. But Horne became dissatisfied with life in London and emigrated to Australia in 1852.