[DOVES BINDERY]. DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870). A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843.

8vo (162 x 100 mm). Half-title printed in blue, title-page printed in red and blue, verso printed in blue. Hand-colored etched frontispiece and 3 hand-colored etched plates by john Leech, 4 wood-engravings in the text by W. J. Linton after Leech; 2-page publisher’s advertisement at end. 20th-century tan Niger morocco, double gilt fillet border surrounding two branches of oak leaves, oak leaf tools in corners, spine in 6 compartments with 5 raised bands, gilt-lettered in one, the rest with central oak leaf tool, board edges gilt, turn-ins gilt, edges gilt BY COBDEN SANDERSON FOR THE DOVES BINDERY, signed on rear turn-in “19 C-S 11,” original cloth bound in (tiny separation to head of upper joint, some very slight rubbing to other corners of spine, upper corners just bumped, a few tiny indentations to lower cover, otherwise bright); cloth folding case. Provenance: Edmund D. Brooks (1866-1919), Minneapolis bookseller (bound for him by the Doves Bindery 1911).

FIRST EDITION, second issue, with “Stave One” as the first chapter heading, the balance of the text uncorrected, blue and red title-page dated 1843. Philo Calhoun and Howell J. Heaney, "Dickens' Christmas Carol After a Hundred Years: A Study in Bibliographical Evidence," in: Papers of the Bibliographical Society of America, 39 (Fourth Quarter, 1945); Eckel, p. 110; Kitton, pp. 33-37; Smith II:4.

IN A FINE DOVES BINDING BY COBDEN SANDERSON, THE ONLY DOVES BINDING ON A WORK BY DICKENS RECORDED BY TIDCOMBE.

According to Tidcombe, the present work was bound for "E. L. Brooks, Minneapolis." More likely, however, the book was bound for Minneapolis bookseller and importer Edmund DeWitt Brooks, whose business was located in the Handicraft Guild building at 89 South 10th Street. An advertisement for Edmund D. Brooks' firm, in the 6 July 1912 issue of The Bellman, includes an advertisement for "A Rare Book from the Doves Bindery. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens...Elegantly bound in full Niger Morocco, gold tooling, edges gilt, original covers preserved in COBDEN-SANDERSON's masterly manner" (p.24).

Tidcombe records 3 other works bound for "E. L. Brooks, Minneapolis" (i.e. Edmund D. Brooks). The first, a copy of John Keats's Lamia and other Poems (1820), includes a rose, forget-me-not and leaf design (Tidcombe 717, binding undated). The second, a copy of John Keats's Endymion (1818), is similarly bound to the present work with an oak leaf wreath in the center within an interlacing strapwork panel (Tidcombe 718, binding undated). The third, a copy of Alfred Lord Tennyson's In Memoriam, incorporates tulips and a center wreath (Tidcombe 771, binding dated 27 September 1912).

Edmund DeWitt Brooks was born and raised in Minnesota, where his family, with roots on the East Coast, settled in 1864. His great-grandfather, Captain James Brooks, was a member of Washington's Life Guard during the Revolutionary War. Edmund Brooks began working as a books and manuscripts dealer in 1901, and quickly became a significant contributor to the development of literary culture in Minneapolis. He spent several months each year in London and in Continental Europe, and counted among his friends many significant literary and art figures in the English-speaking world. He was a member of the Caxton Club, the Rowfant Club, the California Book Club, and the Authors Club of London. Tidcombe 761.

[DOVES BINDERY]. DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870). A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843.