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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 Charles Dickens
- Used
- Hardcover
- first
- Condition
- See description
- Seller
-
Palm Beach, Florida, United States
Payment Methods Accepted
About This Item
London: Chapman and Hall, 1843-48. Complete set of Charles Dickens' Christmas Books. Octavo, 5 volumes, original cloth with gilt titles and tooling to the spine and front panels, all edges gilt. A Christmas Carol, in Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas is a tenth edition with the half-title printed in blue, title-page printed in red and blue, verso printed in blue, hand-colored etched frontispiece and three hand-colored etched plates by John Leech, four wood-engravings in-text by W.J. Linton after Leech, 2pp. publisher's advertisements at rear. Second edition of The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year with the half-title, engraved frontispiece and pictorial vignette title page. First edition of The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home with half-title, frontispiece and vignette title page, second state ad leaf. First edition of the Battle of Life: A Love Story with half-title, advertisements, frontispiece and fourth state vignette title page. First edition of The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain: A Fancy for Christmas-Time with advertisements, frontispiece and vignette title page. Each volume is in near fine condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. A very nice set. A Christmas Carol "may readily be called the Bible of Christmas. It was issued about ten days before Christmas, 1843, and 6000 copies were sold on the first day"(Eckel, 110). "It was a work written at the height of Dickens’ great powers, which would add to his considerable fame, bring a new work to the English language, increase the festivities at Christmastime, and contain his most eloquent protest at the condition of the poor" (John Mortimer). "Suddenly conceived and written within a few weeks, [A Christmas Carol] was the first of Dickens’ Christmas books (a new literary genre thus created incidentally) it was an extraordinary achievement—the one great Christmas myth of modern literature."
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).
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Details
- Bookseller
- Raptis Rare Books
(US)
- Bookseller's Inventory #
- 125019
- 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
- Charles Dickens
- Book Condition
- Used
- Binding
- Hardcover
- Publisher
- Chapman and Hall
- Place of Publication
- London
- Date Published
- 1843-48
- Keywords
- Charles Dickens First Edition, Christmas Books First Editions, Christmas Carol Charles Dickens First Edition
- Note
- May be a multi-volume set and require additional postage.
Terms of Sale
Raptis Rare Books
30 day return guarantee, with full refund including shipping costs for up to 30 days after delivery if an item arrives misdescribed.
About the Seller
Raptis Rare Books
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:
- New
- A new book is a book previously not circulated to a buyer. Although a new book is typically free of any faults or defects, "new"...
- 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...
- Octavo
- Another of the terms referring to page or book size, octavo refers to a standard printer's sheet folded four times, producing...
- Fine
- A book in fine condition exhibits no flaws. A fine condition book closely approaches As New condition, but may lack the...
- 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...
- Second State
- used in book collecting to refer to a first edition, but after some change has been made in the printing, such as a correction,...
- Title Page
- A page at the front of a book which may contain the title of the book, any subtitles, the authors, contributors, editors, the...
- Cloth
- "Cloth-bound" generally refers to a hardcover book with cloth covering the outside of the book covers. The cloth is stretched...
- 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...
- Verso
- The page bound on the left side of a book, opposite to the recto page.
- 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....
- Clamshell Box
- A protective box designed for storing and preserving a bound book or loose sheets. A clamshell box is hinged on one side, with...
- Vignette
- A decorative design or illustration placed at the beginning or end of a ...
- 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...
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