° ° Dickens, Charles - A Christmas Carol, in Prose, Being a ...

Hammer

£6,500

° ° Dickens, Charles - A Christmas Carol, in Prose, Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, 1st edition, 1st issue, Chapman & Hall, 1843 half-title printed in blue, title-page printed in red and blue, verso printed in blue, 2-page publisher's advertisement at end, hand-coloured etched frontispiece and 3 plates by John Leech, 4 wood-engravings in the text by W.J. Linton after Leech, light green endpapers, all edges gilt, original reddish-brown fine-ribbed cloth with decorative blind border surrounding central gilt cartouche and lettering on upper cover, spine lettered and decorated in gilt, 8vo (163 x 102mm), Eckel, p. 110; Smith II:4. First edition, first issue with 'Stave I' as the first chapter heading and no text changes. The binding conforms to William B. Todd's first impression, first issue with the closest interval between blind-stamping left margin and left extremity of wreath 14-15mm, and 'D' of 'Dickens' within wreath on front cover in perfect condition. (The Book Collector, Winter 1961, pp. 449-454.) A Christmas Carol was published on 19 December 1843, selling 6,000 copies in the few days before Christmas. Despite its enormous success it was a financial disaster for Dickens. It was a separate commission requested by him of his publishers Chapman and Hall, with Dickens insisting on a fine coloured binding and endpapers with gilt lettering. Although it went into seven editions by May 1844 almost all the profits were absorbed in the expenses of binding, special papers, coloured plates and advertising, and Dickens found himself overdrawn on his Coutts account, and had to ask his friend Mitton for another loan.
Together with - Dickens, Charles - The Battle of Life, 1st edition, wood-engraved frontispiece, additional pictorial title and illustrations by Daniel Maclise, Richard Doyle, Clarkson Stansfield and John Leech, publisher’s deep red horizontally-ribbed cloth decorated in blind, upper cover gilt-stamped with two cherubs mounted on wasp’s above floral spray, spine with similar design, all edges gilt, 8vo, 2-page publisher’s advertisement at end, Bradbury & Evans, 1846 (2)

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A Christmas Carol - some white discolouriong on the green e/ps., some spotting and other marks intermittently in text, plt.(p.25) with marked offset opposite, lt. spine wear.
A Battle of Life - clean tear on spine and sl. wear at head, some sl. intermittent spots but gen. clean.