“i will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.” - Ebenezer Scrooge

FIRST EDITIONS of all five Dickens Christmas books, including the first issue of A Christmas Carol.

Dickens wrote A Christmas Carol in little more than six weeks in October and November 1843. Wanting to make the book memorable for its appearance as well as its story, Dickens arranged for Chapman and Hall to publish the book on commission so that he could exercise close control over production. Dickens called for a deluxe production with a gilt-stamped binding, gilt edges, a title-page printed in red and blue, and four hand-colored etchings by John Leech. But at the same time, Dickens wanted the book to reach a wide audience and set the price at only five shillings. The book was extremely well received and sold quickly, but Dickens found that on the first 6000 copies he had cleared only £230, not the £1000 he had hoped for.

A Christmas Carol is the first issue, with uncorrected text (“Stave I” as the first chapter heading), the red and blue title page dated 1843, the half title printed in blue, and light green endpapers. The binding is Todd’s first impression, first issue, with the smallest interval between blind-stamped border and gilt wreath measuring 14-15 mm, and with the “D” in “Dickens” unbroken).

Dickens followed A Christmas Carol with four more Christmas books echoing the first book’s themes of charity, love, and redemption. This handsome set features: first edition of The Chimes, with the first state of the engraved title page (publisher’s imprint is engraved within the title vignette); first edition of The Cricket on the Hearth, with second state of advertising leaf at rear (headed “New Edition of Oliver Twist”); first edition of The Battle of Life, with vignette title page in the second state (of four); first edition of The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain.

A lovely, entirely unrestored set of these beloved classics.

1843-1848