Charles Dickens, Arthur Rackham

A limited vellum edition of A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens, signed by the illustrator Arthur Rackham.

• Charles Dickens (English).
• Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.
• London: Heinemann, 1915.
• Limited to 525 copies illustrated and signed by Arthur Rackham, this being copy #333.
• Bound in the original gilt stamped vellum, pictorial pastedowns and endpapers, top edge gilt others uncut as issued.

Regarded as Dicken's most widely read novel and considered to be "the greatest Christmas book ever written in any language" (Eckel p. 116) selling more than 6000 copies in the few days leading up to Christmas. The work was extravagantly costly as Dickens for the first time (and incidentally his last) used color in the title-page and etchings as he wanted to make the book a beautiful gift and to be a celebration of the Christmas spirit. After the initial success, Dickens continued the series throughout the 1840's, maintaining "the Carol" philosophy to "strike a sledgehammer blow" for the poor, uneducated, and repressed.