The Christmas Books: The Chimes; The Battle of Life; Cricket on the Hearth; The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain.

DICKENS, Charles.

$2,600.00

Item Number: 148129

London: Chapman and Hall/Bradbury & Evans, 1845-1848.

First editions of the four final novellas in Charles Dickens’ Christmas Book series. Octavo, 4 volumes bound in full morocco by Root & Son with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, marbled endpapers, all edges gilt, engraved frontispieces and additional vignette titles. The set contains: a first edition, second issue of The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year. [London: Chapman and Hall, 1845] [1844] with the publisher’s advertisement for A Christmas Carol; with the half-title; 13 illustrations including frontispiece and vignette title by Maclise, Doyle, Leech and Stanfield; second state of the vignette title. First edition, second issue of The Cricket on the Hearth. A Fairy Tale of Home. [London: Bradbury and Evans for the author, 1846] [1845] with the half-title; 14 illustrations including frontispiece and vignette title by Leech, Doyle, Stanfield, Maclise and Landseer; with three-line italic heading for Oliver Twist on p.175 of the publisher’s ads at rear. First edition, later issue of The Battle of Life. A Love Story. [London: Bradbury and Evans, 1846] with the half-title; 13 illustrations including frontispiece and vignette title by Maclise, Doyle, Leech and Stanfield; 2pp. advertisements at rear. First edition of The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s Bargain. [London: Bradbury and Evans, 1848]; 16 illustrations including frontispiece and vignette title by Leech, Stanfield, Tenniel and Stone. Original covers bound in at rear of each volume. In near fine condition.

Following the immense success of A Christmas Carol, which first appeared in December of 1843, Dickens published four other Christmas tales: The Chimes (1844), The Cricket on the Hearth (1845), The Battle of Life (1846), and The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1848); these were secular conversion tales which acknowledged the progressive societal changes of the previous year, and highlighted those social problems which still needed to be addressed. The public eagerly bought the later books, each published in an attractive bright red cloth with fine gilt vignettes and elaborate illustrations.