DICKENS, Charles. The Christmas Books: A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; The Battle of Life; Cricket on the Hearth; The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain. (5 VOLUMES - 1843-48 - FIRST EDITION FIRST ISSUE OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL)

AUTHOR: DICKENS, Charles.

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.

PUBLISHER: London: Chapman and Hall 1843-48.

DESCRIPTION: FIRST EDITION FIRST ISSUE OF A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 5 vols., 6-11/16" x 4-3/8", "Christmas Carol" reading "Stave I", green pastedowns and endpapers, and unbroken “D” in Dickens to gilt front cover, first edition first state of "The Chimes", first edition of "The Cricket", first edition fourth state of engraved title-page to "The Battle Of Life", first edition of "The Haunted Man", all the volumes bound in their original gilt decorated cloth, all edges gilt.

CONDITION: All inner and outer hinges fine, all head and foot of spines fine, all back corners square, small ownership stamp to front endpaper in “The Cricket”, all volumes internally clean and bright, without any repairs, completely unsophisticated, A FINE SET. Housed in red leather backed clamshell slipcase, ribbed gilt decorated spine.

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.