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The Christmas Books

Lot 165
06.10.2022 12:00UTC -05:00
Classic
Sold
$ 37 800
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUSA, New York
Archive
The auction is completed. No bids can be placed anymore.
Archive
ID 813654
Lot 165 | The Christmas Books
Estimate value
$ 30 000 – 50 000
The Christmas Books

Charles Dickens, 1843-1848

DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870). [THE CHRISTMAS BOOKS]. London, 1843-1848.



The very fine Doheny set of the Christmas Books including an unsurpassed copy of A Christmas Carol. All first editions (mixed states). Comprising: A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. London: Bradbury and Evans for Chapman and Hall, 1843. Half-title printed in blue, title printed in red and blue, green coated endpapers. Hand-colored etched frontispiece and 3 plates by and after John Leech, woodcut illustrations by W. J. Linton after Leech. With "Stave I" chapter heading and other first edition points. Cloth is the first issue, with 14 mm distance between the blind-stamped left margin and the left extremity of the gilt wreath, the "D" in Dickens unbroken. Neat ownership inscription dated 13 January 1844. * The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year In. London: Bradbury and Evans for Chapman and Hall, 1845 [but 1844]. First state of the vignette title. * The Cricket on the Hearth. A Fairy Tale of Home. London: Bradbury and Evans for the Author, 1846 [but 1845]. Second state of the advertisement leaf (as in "all but a few" copies). * The Battle of Life. A Love Story. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1846. Second state of the vignette title title. * The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain. A Fancy for Christmas-Time. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1848.



This is a superb set. Remarkably, Christmas Carol and Cricket on the Hearth at least have been together since publication, for nearly 180 years. Both bear the ownership signatures of C. Wethered, the first one dated 13 January 1844. Eckel pp.110-125; Smith II:4-6, 8-9.



Together five volumes, octavo (165 x 108mm). Original red cloth stamped in gilt and blind (A Christmas Carol in reddish brown cloth), all edges gilt (hinges of Chimes strengthened, some very slight leans). Custom full morocco pull-off box by Zaehnsdorff. Provenance: C. Wethered (ownership signatures in two vols) – Margaret Beasley (gift inscription in Chimes dated 1845) – Estelle Doheny (morocco bookplates in each volume, her sale, Christie's New York, 1 February 1988, lot 511).

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