Fine Printed Books & Manuscripts, Including Americana

1) A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. London: [Bradbury and Evans for] Chapman & Hall, 1843. Half-title printed in blue, title printed in red and blue, verso printed in blue, hand-colored steel-engraved frontispiece and 3 hand-colored steel-engraved plates by John Leech (a few heightened in gum arabic), 4 wood-engravings in the text by W.J. Linton after Leech; 2pp. publisher's advertisements at end. FIRST EDITION, second issue with the corrected “Stave One” as the first chapter heading, the balance of the text uncorrected. The binding has the first state "D" of Dickens unbroken, and the closest interval between the blind decorative border on the left and the left extremity of the gilt cartouche measuring 14-15mm.

2) The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In. London: [Bradbury and Evans for:] Chapman & Hall, 1845 [but 1844]. Half-title, additional vignette title. FIRST EDITION, second issue, with the publisher's name printed outside of the cloud on the vignette title-page.

3) The Cricket on the Hearth. A Fairy Tale of Home. London: Bradbury & Evans for the Author, 1846 [but 1845]. Half-title, additional vignette title. FIRST EDITION, FIRST STATE with the two-line italic heading for Oliver Twist on p.175 of the publisher’s ads.

4) The Battle of Life. A Love Story. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1846. Half-title, additional vignette title. FIRST EDITION, fifth state, second variant vignette titlepage (Todd E2).

5) The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain. A Fancy for Christmas-Time. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1848. Additional vignette title. FIRST EDITION of Dickens’ last Christmas Book.

Together, 5 works in 5 volumes, all 8vo, all illustrated and uniformly bound in modern forest green morocco gilt, stamp-signed by Bayntun-Riviere; each with original cloth covers bound in. A COMPLETE SET OF THE CHRISTMAS BOOKS. Dickens sought to publish a Christmas-themed story each December, which would "'strike a sledgehammer blow' for the poor, uneducated, and repressed." Though all five books were popular, none achieved the cultural staying power of A Christmas Carol, which would be the centerpiece of Dickens's reading tours throughout the following two decades. Eckel pp.110-125; Smith II:4-6, 8-9.