Shelf Life: Books, Manuscripts and Works on Paper from the Library of Stanley J. Seeger and Christopher Cone

Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843 FIRST EDITION, ECKEL'S FIRST ISSUE (red and blue title-page dated 1843, green endpapers, "Stave I", uncorrected text, blue half-title), 12mo (163 x 102 mm), hand-coloured engraved frontispiece, 3 hand-coloured engraved plates and 4 woodcuts in the text by John Leech, 2pp. advertisements at end, original cinnamon vertically-ribbed cloth stamped in blind and gilt, gilt edges, green endpapers, housed in a modern red quarter-calf box, front free endpaper with neatly repaired large tear, joints very slightly splitting at head of spine AN ATTRACTIVE FIRST EDITION OF DICKENS'S FIRST CHRISTMAS BOOK, THE NOVEL THAT ALMOST SINGLE-HANDEDLY INVENTED THE IDEA OF A JOYOUS CHRISTMAS. Dickens first had the idea in October 1843 and by the following month John Leech, introduced to him by George Cruikshank, was working on the illustrations. Dickens composed the story in his head while walking the streets of London at night. It was issued ten days before Christmas and 6,000 copies were sold on the first day. Dickens paid for the production on the understanding he took all the profit. It was, however, an excessively lavish and expensive production, so his profit was low even though sales were high. According to Eckel, first and second issues of the first edition have the same issue points except for the endpapers, which were originally green for the first issue, but were changed to yellow for the second issue. LITERATURE: Smith II: 4; Eckel pp. 110-115

View 1 of Lot 48: Charles Dickens | A Christmas Carol, 1843, first edition, original cloth

charles dickens | a christmas carol, 1843, first edition, original cloth

A fourth edition of A Christmas Carol by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Charles+Dickens&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Charles Dickens</a>.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>London: Chapman and Hall, 1844.</li><li>Illustrated with 4 hand colored engraved plates by John Leech and 4 black and white illustrations by W.J. Linton.</li><li>Bound in the original straight grained rose colored cloth, gilt tile and wreath to spine and front cover, yellow pastedowns and endpapers, all edges gilt.</li></ul> Regarded as Dicken's most widely read novel and considered to be "the greatest Christmas book ever written in any language" 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.

A Christmas Carol In Prose Being A Ghost Story of Christmas | Fourth Edition

A first edition, Deluxe Issue copy of A Christmas Carol.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>Illustrated by Arthur Rackham.</li><li>London:&nbsp;William Heinemann,&nbsp;1915.</li><li>Quarto.</li><li>Includes 12 full-page mounted illustrations in color and 20 drawings in black and white by Arthur Rackham.</li><li>One of 525 copies signed by Rackham.&nbsp;</li><li>Bound in original full gilt-decorated vellum, housed in custom vellum backed box with chemise.</li></ul>

A Christmas Carol

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, second issue of <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Charles+Dickens&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Charles Dickens</a>' A Christmas Carol.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>London: Chapman and Hall, 1843.</li><li>Illustrated with 4 hand colored engraved plates by John Leech and 4 black and white illustrations by W.J. Linton.</li><li>Chapter heading reading "Stave One."</li><li>Bound in the original straight grained rose colored cloth, gilt tile and wreath to spine and front cover, front cover has a perfect 'D' in 'Dickens', yellow pastedowns and endpapers, all edges gilt.</li></ul>

A Christmas Carol | First Edition

A <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">first edition</a>, second issue of A Christmas Carol by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Charles+Dickens&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Charles Dickens</a>.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>A Christmas Carol In Prose Being A Ghost Story of Christmas.</li><li>London: Chapman and Hall, 1843.</li><li>Chapter heading reading "Stave One", illustrated with 4 hand colored engraved plates by John Leech and 4 black and white illustrations by W.J. Linton.</li><li>Bound in fine full red morocco, ribbed gilt decorated spine, covers ruled and paneled in gilt, front cover with gilt portrait of Dickens, rear cover with Dickens signature in gilt, gilt dentelles, marbled pastedowns and endpapers, all edges gilt, original cloth covers and 1 yellow endpaper bound in, by Bayntun.</li></ul> Regarded as Dicken's most widely read novel and considered to be "the greatest Christmas book ever written in any language" 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.

A Christmas Carol First Edition

<a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/buy/luxury/books-&amp;-manuscripts/book/first-edition?locale=en" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">First edition</a>, second issue of A Christmas Carol by <a href="https://www.sothebys.com/en/search?query=Charles+Dickens&amp;pfilters.dateRange=upcoming" rel="noopener noreferrer" target="_blank">Charles Dickens</a>.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English).</li><li>London: Chapman and Hall, 1843.</li><li>Illustrated with 4 hand colored engraved plates by John Leech and 4 black and white illustrations by W.J. Linton.</li><li>Chapter heading reading "Stave One."</li><li>Bound in the original straight grained rose colored cloth, gilt tile and wreath to spine and front cover, front cover has a perfect 'D' in 'Dickens', yellow pastedowns and endpapers, all edges gilt.</li></ul> Regarded as Dicken's most widely read novel and considered to be "the greatest Christmas book ever written in any language" 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.

A Christmas Carol In Prose Being A Ghost Story of Christmas | First Edition

A first edition, second issue copy of the holiday classic A Christmas Carol.<ul><li>Charles Dickens (English, 1812-1870).</li><li>A Christmas Carol In Prose Being A Ghost Story of Christmas.</li><li>London: Chapman and Hall, 1843.</li><li>Illustrated with 4 hand-colored engraved plates by John Leech and 4 black and white illustrations by W.J. Linton.</li><li>Bound in the original straight grained rose-colored cloth, gilt tile and wreath to spine and front cover, yellow pastedowns and endpapers, all edges gilt.</li></ul> Regarded as Dickens' most widely read novel and considered to be "the greatest Christmas book ever written in any language" (Eckel p. 116) selling more than 6,000 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 1840s, maintaining "the Carol" philosophy to "strike a sledgehammer blow" for the poor, uneducated and repressed.

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