Dickens, Charles

i) A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. 1843, FIRST EDITION, second state (with chapter one headed "Stave I"), half-title printed in blue, title printed in blue and red, hand-coloured frontispiece, 3 hand-coloured etched plates and 4 woodcut illustrations in the text by John Leech, 2pp. publisher's adverts at end, original boards showing evidence of green endpapers preserved at end; ii) The Chimes. A Goblin Story of some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In. 1845, FIRST EDITION, FIRST ISSUE (with name of publishers a part of the vignette on the engraved title page), half-title, engraved frontispiece and additional engraved title by Maclise, 11 illustrations; iii) The Cricket on the Hearth. A Fairy Tale of Home. 1846, FIRST EDITION, half-title, engraved frontispiece and additional engraved title by Maclise, 12 illustrations, 2pp. publisher's adverts at end; iv) The Battle of Life. A Love Story. 1846, FIRST EDITION, half-title, engraved frontispiece and additional engraved title (fourth state with "A Love Story" within a scroll borne by a nude cupid without the imprint beneath) by Maclise, 11 illustrations, 2pp. publisher's adverts at end; v) The Haunted Man and Ghost's Bargain. A Fancy for Christmas-Time. 1848, FIRST EDITION, 2pp. publisher's adverts at front, frontispiece and additional engraved title by John Tenniel, 14 illustrations; all small 8vo, each with original boards preserved at end, uniform red morocco by Bayntun, spines gilt in compartments, gilt dentelles, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers, together in collector's red cloth slipcase, very occasional spotting

Eckel pp.110-125; Smith II 4, 5, 6, 8 and 9

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Dickens' Christmas Carol was the first of his five immensely popular Christmas books. According to Eckel, "it was issued about ten days before Christmas, 1843, and 6000 copies were sold on the first day". The following books similarly sold exceptionally well.

A expensive format was adopted for this first of the series, with hand-coloured illustrations, since Dickens' was insistent that these should be attractive books suitable for gifts. Also on the instruction of the author the book was dated correctly as 1843, rather than the coming year (1844) which would have been customary for books published in November and December.