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

AUTHOR: DICKENS, Charles. 

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

PUBLISHER: London: Chapman &  Hall, 1843.

DESCRIPTION: SECOND EDITION. 1 vol., "Stave One" as the first chapter heading, title-page printed in red and blue, illustrated with 4 hand colored engraved plates by John Leech and 4 black and white illustrations by W.J. Linton.  Bound in the original rose colored cloth, all edges gilt.

CONDITION: Spine slightly sunned, rear inner hinge renewed, outer hinges fine, head and foot of spine expertly renewed, internally clean and bright  a VERY GOOD copy.

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION: This was the last edition published in the same year as the original issue, which was done on Christmas eve.  By the end of the next year (1844) 13 editions had been printed. 

According to John Eckel, "A Christmas Carol" was published on December 19th, 1843 and sold 6,000 copies on the first day. Before the end of the year, eleven days later, it was in the third edition, with the combined number of copies of the second and third editions being estimated at only two to three thousand copies. This means that the second and third editions were at least two to three times scarcer than the first.