Dickens, Charles. A handsomely bound set of the Christmas Books

DICKENS, CHARLES

FIVE CHRISTMAS BOOKS. LONDON: 1843-1848

A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being A Ghost Story of Christmas. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. Half-title, hand-colored frontispiece, title-page printed in blue and red, 3 hand-colored etched plates by John Leech, "Stave I" on p.[1], 2pp. advertisements at rear, with advertisement for A Christmas Carol (see The Chimes description); minor toning, one or two stray spots. Original green endpapers bound in at end; endpapers rubbed. First edition, first issue, titles and endpapers, with some second edition textual issues points. — The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In. London: Chapman and Hall, 1845 [1844]. Half-title, 13 illustrations, including frontispiece and vignette title, by Maclise, Doyle, Leech and Stanfield, second state of the vignette title; advertisement for A Christmas Carol present it previous volume, one or two stray spots. First edition. — The Cricket on the Hearth. A Fairy Tale of Home. London: Bradbury and Evans for the author, 1846 [1845]. Half-title, 14 illustrations, including frontispiece and vignette title, by Leech, Doyle, Stanfield, Maclise and Landseer, 2pp. advertisement at rear; one or two stray spots. First edition. — The Battle of Life. A Love Story. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1846. Half-title, 13 illustrations, including frontispiece and vignette title, by Maclise, Doyle, Leech and Stanfield, fourth state of the vignette title, 2pp. advertisements at rear; one or two stray spots. First edition, fourth state. — The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1848. Half-title, 7 illustrations, including frontispiece and vignette title by Leech, Stanfield, Tenniel and Stone, 2pp. advertisement at rear; one or two stray spots. First edition. Together 5 volumes, all foolscap 8vo (6 7/16 x 3 15/16 in.; 168 x 100 mm). Uniformly bound in tan calf, covers with double gilt rules, spines with raised bands in six compartments, second and third gilt lettered, other with repeat gilt motif in gilt, all edges gilt, inner dentelles gilt, marbled endpapers, remnants of publishers' cloth bound in at end of each volume; some offsetting onto endpapers. 

A handsomely bound set of Dickens' Christmas Books

After the success Dickens achieved with A Christmas Carol in 1843, the author continued the series through the 1840s, maintaining what he called "the Carol philosophy," to "strike a sledgehammer blow" for the poor, uneducated, and repressed. In characteristic fashion, Dickens underscored his message with a mixture of humor and mirth.

REFERENCE:

Eckel 110-125