Dickens, A Curious Dance round a Curious Tree, [1860], first separate edition, first issue

DICKENS, CHARLES

A Curious Dance round a Curious Tree. [London: St. Luke's Hospital, 1860]

8vo (180 118mm.), first edition, first issue with final paragraph in the same type as the rest of the text and full stop after "Tree" in title, original pale mauve wrappers, preserved in quarter green morocco folding box, wrappers slightly faded, vertical fold, slight spotting

THE RARER FIRST ISSUE OF THE FIRST SEPARATE EDITION of Dickens' account of the conditions inside St. Luke's Hospital (esatablished in 1751 "for the treatment and care of lunatics") and in particular the "very sad and touching spectacle" of the annual Christmas Ball. Dickens wrote the piece in 1852, when it first appeared in Household Words, but gave permission for it to be republished separately eight years later as part of a fundraising appeal. The hospital added two extra items to update Dickens' account.

REFERENCE:

Eckel p.188; Gimbel B216