DICKENS, Charles. A Christmas Carol In Prose Being A Ghost Story of Christmas. (1843 - FIRST EDITION - FIRST ISSUE)

AUTHOR: DICKENS, Charles. 

TITLE: A Christmas Carol In Prose Being A Ghost Story of Christmas.

PUBLISHER: London: Chapman and Hall, 1843.

DESCRIPTION: FIRST EDITION FIRST ISSUE. 1 vol., 6-5/8" x 4-3/8", chapter heading reading "Stave I", illustrated with 4 hand colored engraved plates by John Leech and 4 black and white illustrations by W.J. Linton. Bound in the publisher's original gilt and blind stamped mauve cloth, back corners square, front cover has a perfect 'D' in 'Dickens', green pastedowns and endpapers, all edges gilt.

CONDITION: Internally fine, neat ownership signature to upper edge of title page and gift inscription to recto of frontis, no previous ownership bookplate, internally clean and bright, head of spine rubbed with some slight loss, inner and outer hinges fine, some staining to upper edge of front cover, general handling, overall still a VERY GOOD unsophisticated/unrepaired first issue copy in original cloth which is becoming increasingly difficult to find in nice condition.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: Regarded as Dicken's most widely read novel and considered to be "the greatest Christmas book ever written in any language" (Eckel p. 116) 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.