DICKENS, Charles. A Christmas Carol In Prose Being A Ghost Story of Christmas. (1855 - THIRTEENTH EDITION)

AUTHOR: DICKENS, Charles. 

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

PUBLISHER: London: Bradbury & Evans, 1855.

DESCRIPTION: THIRTEENTH EDITION. 1 vol., title-page printed in red and blue, hand colored frontispiece & 3 plates by John Leech, 1 page advertisement in rear. Bound in the publisher's original gilt and blind stamped red cloth, all edges gilt.

CONDITION: Internally clean and bright, inner and outer hinges fine, head and foot of spine fine, back corners square and sharp, no previous ownership markings, inscriptions, or bookplate, A FINE BRIGHT COPY. Housed in a leather backed clamshell slipcase, raised bands, gilt lettered spine.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: An unusually fine copy of a somewhat elusive edition. RBH locate only 4 copies ever appearing at auction.

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.