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The Christmas Books: A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; The Battle of Life; Cricket on the Hearth; The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain.

The Christmas Books: A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; The Battle of Life; Cricket on the Hearth; The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain.

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The Christmas Books: A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; The Battle of Life; Cricket on the Hearth; The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain.

by Dickens, Charles

  • Used
  • first
Condition
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Seller rating:
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Palm Beach, Florida, United States
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About This Item

London: Chapman and Hall, 1845-60. First edition, early printings of all five of Charles Dickens' Christmas Books, finely bound. Octavo, 5 volumes, bound in full calf with elaborate gilt tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, black and green morocco spine labels lettered in gilt, double gilt ruled panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, all edges gilt, marbled endpapers. Illustrated with sixty-three engravings altogether, four in color, by Leech, Maclise, Stanfield, Doyle and Landseer. In fine condition. An exceptional set.

Synopsis

The first edition of Dicken’s classic work A Christmas Carol, was published in 1843. It was a runaway success, and Dickens went on to write dozens of follow up Christmas tales over the next 25 years. Many of these stories are bundled in collections, titled Christmas Stories  or  Christmas Books. The first four Christmas books published after the success of A Christmas Carol were: The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home (1845), T he Battle of Life: A Love Story  (1846), The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain: A Fancy for Christmas-Time  (1848).  After the success of these stand-alone books, Dickens began to write and edit special Christmas-themed issues of Household Words, a twopenny journal he launched in 1850. He collaborated with well-known authors, as well as wrote his own stories. You can find multiple bound editions of these early stories from Household Words , such as "What Christmas Is" (1851), "The Poor Relation's Story "(1852), "The Schoolboy's Story" (1853), "The Seven Poor Travellers" (1854), "The Holly-Tree Inn" (1855), "A House to Let" (1858), "The Haunted House" (1859), "A Message from the Sea" (1860), and "Somebody's Luggage" (1862).

Read More: Identifying first editions of The Christmas Books: A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; The Battle of Life; Cricket on the Hearth; The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain.

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Details

Bookseller
Raptis Rare Books US (US)
Bookseller's Inventory #
121293
Title
The Christmas Books: A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; The Battle of Life; Cricket on the Hearth; The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain.
Author
Dickens, Charles
Book Condition
Used
Publisher
Chapman and Hall
Place of Publication
London
Date Published
1845-60
Keywords
Bayntun Riviere Fine Binding, Charles Dickens First Edition, Christmas Books First Editions, Christmas Carol First Edition
Note
May be a multi-volume set and require additional postage.

Terms of Sale

Raptis Rare Books

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About the Seller

Raptis Rare Books

Seller rating:
This seller has earned a 5 of 5 Stars rating from Biblio customers.
Biblio member since 2012
Palm Beach, Florida

About Raptis Rare Books

Founded by Matthew and Adrienne Raptis, Raptis Rare Books is an antiquarian book firm that specializes in literature, children's books, economics, photo books, signed and inscribed books, and landmark books in all fields. Our business model is simple: we strive to handle books that are in exceptional condition and to provide exceptional customer service.

Glossary

Some terminology that may be used in this description includes:

Calf
Calf or calf hide is a common form of leather binding. Calf binding is naturally a light brown but there are ways to treat the...
Gilt
The decorative application of gold or gold coloring to a portion of a book on the spine, edges of the text block, or an inlay in...
Fine
A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
Spine
The outer portion of a book which covers the actual binding. The spine usually faces outward when a book is placed on a shelf....
First Edition
In book collecting, the first edition is the earliest published form of a book. A book may have more than one first edition in...
Octavo
Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
Morocco
Morocco is a style of leather book binding that is usually made with goatskin, as it is durable and easy to dye. (see also...
Edges
The collective of the top, fore and bottom edges of the text block of the book, being that part of the edges of the pages of a...

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