Christmas Carol Chimes Cricket by Charles Dickens, First Edition (23 results)

Soft Cover. Condition: Very Good++. Later Printing. PB, pictorial card covers, 272pp, b/w illus. Minor rubbing to covers, inside is square, clean, tight & unmarked. Size: 8vo - over 7¾" - 9¾" tall.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good+. Dust Jacket Condition: Very Good+. George Sheffield; (illustrator). First Printing - First Thus. 414 pp. Please note, this is a very heavy book and the shipping will probably be higher than normal. Blue boards lettered in gilt on the spine; headband. Very light rubbing at the corners of the dustjacket; some darkening around the edges of the text block; no interior markings. The dustjacket features Old Cheapside, Warrington by George Sheffield. This story collection contains: Foreword by Stefan R. Dziemianowicz; A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; The Cricket on the Hearth; The Haunted Man; A Christmas Tree; What Christmas Is As We Grow Older; The Poor Relation's Story; The Seven Poor Travellers; The Holly Tree; and Doctor Marigold. Size: 8vo. Book.

Hardcover. Condition: Fine. John Leech (illustrator). 1st Edition. A FINE, like-new, bright, clean, tight, collector-worthy copy sans flaws. A high-quality publication of these Charles Dickens holiday classics with gold gilt page edges on all sides, a built-in silk page marker and 4 raised-rib bars on the spine. PROLIFICALLY ILLUSTRATED and enhanced in/by the black and white drawings of John Leech. Red boards with gold gilt lettering, design, and Ebenezer Scrooge illustration on the front cover and gold gilt lettering and decoration on the spine. 179 pages. LRS2.

Hardcover. Chappell, Warren (illustrator). First edition, first printing. Near Fine clothbound hardcover with two-color stamped titling and decorations to the front and spine and top edge dyed red with a spot of soiling to the bottom edge of the text block and a touch of fading to the dyed top edge in a Very Good + dust jacket with moderate tanning to the spine, a touch of rubbing to the extremities, and light wear with a tiny tear along the top edge of the back panel; interior is fine throughout and jacket front almost looks as new. All dust jackets are protected by a clear mylar cover. BOOKS SHIP THE NEXT BUSINESS DAY, WRAPPED IN PADDING, IN A BOX. Three of Charles Dickens' best loved Christmas tales are gathered unabridged in this volume: A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; and The Cricket on the Hearth. Illustrated by Warren Chappell. [8] + 308 pages; 35 full-page and 13 text illustrations in b&w with a color wash; 6.5 x 9.25 inches.

Cloth Hard Cover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket. Facsimile Edition. Near fine. Ca 1992. 5 volumes facsimiles of originals published 1843-1848, bound in embossed red cloth. Gilt edges. Original illustrations. Original cloth slipcase. Ribbon markers. Promoting global literacy for over 30 years. 24mo - over 5" - 5¾" tall 24mo - over 5" - 5¾" tall Size: 24mo - over 5" - 5¾" tall. LITERATURE.

Cloth Hard Cover. Condition: Very Good. Dust Jacket Condition: No Dust Jacket. Facsimile Edition. Near fine. Ca 1992. 5 volumes facsimiles of originals published 1843-1848, bound in embossed red cloth. Gilt edges. Original illustrations. Original cloth slipcase. Ribbon markers. Promoting global literacy for over 30 years. 24mo - over 5" - 5¾" tall 24mo - over 5" - 5¾" tall Size: 24mo - over 5" - 5¾" tall. LITERATURE.

Hardcover. First Edition; First Printing. Very Good+ in a Good dust jacket. Edge wear. Chipping to front panel. Chip to rear panel's lower left corner, closed tears to upper and lower edge/ ; 8vo 8" - 9" tall.

Hardcover. First Edition Thus; First Printing. Very Good+ in boards. Light foxing along text block edges. Illustrations by Warren Chappell.

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good +. Charles Green, L. Rossi (illustrator). 1st Edition. First "Pears" Centenary Edition's. A Christmas Carol, Pp. 139. Original red cloth pictorial cover. Some marks to cover, one page with loss to edge, does not affect text, small name to top of frontispiece. internally clean, tight binding. The Chimes, Pp. 147. Original blue cloth pictorial cover. Some marks to cover, internally clean, tight binding. The Cricket on the Heath, Pp. 140. Original green cloth pictorial cover. Some marks to cover, internally clean, tight binding. Illustrated throughout by L.Rossi. The other two by Charles Green.

Three-Quarter Leather. Condition: Good ++. First Edition. New Edition C1880. Through most of the 19th century and well into the twentieth, Tauchnitz issued copyright editions of English and American works to be sold on the continent for travelers and resident English speakers. These Continental Edition were published at the same time and later as the standard UK editions.Works consists of A Christmas Carol, The Chimes and The Cricket on the Hearth. Book states 1843 and 1846 but the binding and boards indicate a late Victorian edition C1880. Bookplate of Charles Hibbert Henry Williamson's father in law. The Hibbert's were a wealthy middle class family in Devon. Williamson' met his daughter Ida Loetitia at various hunting meets and fell in love. Kipling's collection of short stories on the British in India and the Supernatural. From a large collection of Henry Williamson's and his family's books. Includes a specially commissioned small bookplate affixed inside the book confirming this. Book is good with quite bright boards. Contents quite good. Light age toning to pages. More images can be taken upon request. ref 17593.

Probably First Collected Edition, with no volume title page, with Carol dated 1847, Chimes dated 1847 and Cricket dated 1846. The first Wiley and Putnam edition of Cricket may have been simultaneous with the Harper's 1846 edition. Original decorative cloth, gilt page edges. Not in the Calinesca Collection. Good, firmly bound copy, original spine rebacked expertly, foxing to pages.

[English literature] FIRST EDITIONS THUS, Illustrations in colour by Charles Brock. Five volumes, octavo (18 x 12 x 15cm). Bound in half festive green morocco with cranberry red labels, raised bands, gilt rules, cloth sides, top edges gilt. Housed in a bespoke fleece-lined cloth slip-case with ribbon pull. Internally clean, exterior unmarked. A fine set in a handsome recent leather binding. An attractive set of these classic seasonal tales, splendidly illustrated and presented.

First Edition Thus. First Edition Thus. 5 volumes, 12mo. Original full green sheep, gilt-stamped covers, all edges gilt. Half-titles, titles printed in red and black, hand-colored frontispieces and vignette titles. A pretty set, uncommon and in very attractive, well-suited gilt bindings, as issued. Spines slightly sunned with some rubbing at extreme ends, some corners rubbed. Scarce collected edition of Dickens's Christmas classics.

Hardcover. Condition: Near Fine. 1st Edition. First Editions, First Printings. All the books are bound in the publisher's original cloth and are in great shape. The bindings are tight with NO cocking or leaning with minor wear to the boards. The pages are clean with NO writing, marks or bookplates in the books. A lovely collection of these four books "The Chimes" "The Cricket on the Hearth" "The Battle of Life,The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain".

Complete set of Charles Dickens' Christmas Books, comprising the first appearance of AĀChristmas Carol in red cloth, issued to match the others, and first editions of the remaining four. Octavo, 5 volumes, original cloth with gilt titles and tooling to the spine and front panels, all edges gilt. A Christmas Carol is a tenth edition with 4 hand-colored plates, spine neatly repaired [1844]; First edition of The Chimes: A Goblin Story with the advertisement leaf for the above edition of AĀChristmas Carol, second state of vignette title-page, recased [1845]; first edition of The Cricket on the Hearth, second state of advertisement leaf [1846]; first edition of The Battle of Life with vignette title-page in fourth state without imprint (Todd's E1) [1846]; first edition of The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain with p.161 numeral intact, spine ends repaired [Bradbury & Evans, 1848]. In very good condition. A very nice example. A Christmas Carol "may readily be called the Bible of Christmas. It was issued about ten days before Christmas, 1843, and 6000 copies were sold on the first day"(Eckel, 110). "It was a work written at the height of Dickensā great powers, which would add to his considerable fame, bring a new work to the English language, increase the festivities at Christmastime, and contain his most eloquent protest at the condition of the poor" (John Mortimer). "Suddenly conceived and written within a few weeks, [A Christmas Carol] was the first of Dickensā Christmas books (a new literary genre thus created incidentally) it was an extraordinary achievementā "the one great Christmas myth of modern literature.".

Complete set of Charles Dickensā Christmas Books. Octavo, five volumes elaborately bound in full crushed red morocco by Root with gilt titles and tooling to the spine in six compartments within raised gilt bands, double gilt ruling to the front and rear panels, gilt turn-ins and inner dentelles, all edges gilt, illustrated. AĀChristmasĀCarol is a later state, half-title printed in blue, title page in red and blue, dated 1843, colored plates, "Stave One" as opposed to "Stave I" on first page of text; this seems to be a mixed issue composed of points associated with 1844 editions, perhaps even 1845, hard to figure out, probably done by the binder for the carriage trade. The Chimes is a second issue with "Chapman and Hall" outside the border of the vignette engraving on the engraved title page. Light old tidemark from old dampness to engraved title page and frontispiece, hard even to see it. The Cricket on the Hearth is a second state with ad leaf at the rear headed "New Edition of Oliver Twist" with three lines in italics beneath it. The Battle of Life is a later state with cupid holding a banner on the engraved title page on which is written, "A Love Story & The Haunted Man" is a first printing, light damp-stain tidemark to inner corner of some pages, including frontispiece and title. An attractive example of Dickens' famed work. A Christmas Carol "may readily be called the Bible of Christmas It was issued about ten days before Christmas, 1843, and 6000 copies were sold on the first day"(Eckel, 110). "It was a work written at the height of Dickensā great powers, which would add to his considerable fame, bring a new work to the English language, increase the festivities at Christmastime, and contain his most eloquent protest at the condition of the poor" (John Mortimer). "Suddenly conceived and written within a few weeks, [A Christmas Carol] was the first of Dickensā Christmas books (a new literary genre thus created incidentally) it was an extraordinary achievementā "the one great Christmas myth of modern literature.".

Complete set of Charles Dickens' Christmas Books. Octavo, 5 volumes, original cloth with gilt titles and tooling to the spine and front panels, all edges gilt. A Christmas Carol is an eleventh edition, plates hand-colored, recased by Morrell [1845]; The Chimes: A Goblin Story is a sixth edition, recased [1845]; first edition of The Cricket on the Hearth, Āsecond state of advertisement leaf, spine repaired and new endpapers [1846]; first edition of The Battle of Life with vignette title-page in fourth state without imprint (Todd's E1) [1846]; first edition of The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain [Bradbury & Evans, 1848]. All but A Christmas Carol with additional vignette titles. In very good condition. A Christmas Carol "may readily be called the Bible of Christmas. It was issued about ten days before Christmas, 1843, and 6000 copies were sold on the first day"(Eckel, 110). "It was a work written at the height of Dickensā great powers, which would add to his considerable fame, bring a new work to the English language, increase the festivities at Christmastime, and contain his most eloquent protest at the condition of the poor" (John Mortimer). "Suddenly conceived and written within a few weeks, [A Christmas Carol] was the first of Dickensā Christmas books (a new literary genre thus created incidentally) it was an extraordinary achievementā "the one great Christmas myth of modern literature.".

Hardcover. Condition: Very Good. 1st Edition. A set of the five Christmas books by Dickens: 1). A Christmas Carol, in Prose, being a Ghost Story of Christmas. With illustrations by John Leech. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. With the Stave I reading, the red and blue title, but with the typographical corrections that delineate the second edition of the same month. [8], 166, [2] pp. Frontispiece and three hand-colored plates plus four wood engravings, all by Leech. 2) The Chimes. A Goblin Story or some bells that rang an old year out and a new year in. London: Chapman & Hall, 1845. First edition, first issue (with the imprint integral to the engraved title). [8], 175, [1] pp.; the first page is the ad for the Christmas Carol; 3) The Cricket on the Hearth. A fairy tale of home. London: printed and published for the author by Bradbury and Evans, 1846. First edition, first (and only) issue. [8], 174, [2] pp., complete with half-title and ads; The battle of life. 4. A love story. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1846. First edition, Eckel's fourth issue. [8], [1-2, sectional title], 3-175 [colophon on verso of last page], ad leaf. The illustrations (by Doyle, Leech, Maclise et al) are intertextual; 5) The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain. A Fancy for Christmas-time. London: Bradbury & Evans, 1848. First edition, first (and only) issue. Five volumes uniformly bound by Tout in full maroon morocco, slipcased, all edges gilt. Joints repaired on the first volume, with a small loss to the corner of the title-page. Overall, a very nice set of Dickens' Christmas novels.

Complete set of Charles Dickens' Christmas Books. Octavo, 5 volumes, original cloth with gilt titles and tooling to the spine and front panels, all edges gilt. A Christmas Carol, in Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas is a tenth edition with the half-title printed in blue, title-page printed in red and blue, verso printed in blue, hand-colored etched frontispiece and three hand-colored etched plates by John Leech, four wood-engravings in-text by W.J. Linton after Leech, 2pp. publisher's advertisements at rear. Second edition of The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year with the half-title, engraved frontispiece and pictorial vignette title page. First edition of The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home with half-title, frontispiece and vignette title page, second state ad leaf. First edition of the Battle of Life: A Love Story with half-title, advertisements, frontispiece and fourth state vignette title page. First edition of The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain: A Fancy for Christmas-Time with advertisements, frontispiece and vignette title page. Each volume is in near fine condition. Housed in a custom half morocco clamshell box. A very nice set. A Christmas Carol "may readily be called the Bible of Christmas. It was issued about ten days before Christmas, 1843, and 6000 copies were sold on the first day"(Eckel, 110). "It was a work written at the height of Dickens great powers, which would add to his considerable fame, bring a new work to the English language, increase the festivities at Christmastime, and contain his most eloquent protest at the condition of the poor" (John Mortimer). "Suddenly conceived and written within a few weeks, [A Christmas Carol] was the first of Dickens Christmas books (a new literary genre thus created incidentally) it was an extraordinary achievement the one great Christmas myth of modern literature.".

Complete set of Charles Dickens' Christmas Books. Octavo, 5 volumes, original cloth with gilt titles and tooling to the spine and front panels, all edges gilt. A Christmas Carol, in Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas is a second edition in brown cloth with red and blue title-page dated 1843, 'Stave One' and corrected text, Smith's second state, plates hand-colored (2 repaired), spine repaired, new endpapers, 1843; first edition of The Chimes; A Goblin Story with advertisement leaf for the tenth edition of A Christmas Carol, first state of vignette title-page, recased, 1845, Chapman & Hall; fourteenth edition of The Cricket on the Hearth, new endpapers, 1846; first edition of The Battle of Life with the vignette title-page in fourth state without imprint (Todd's E1), recased, 1846; first edition of The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain, 1848, Bradbury & Evans; all but The Christmas Carol with additional vignette titles, illustrations. In very good condition. A Christmas Carol "may readily be called the Bible of Christmas. It was issued about ten days before Christmas, 1843, and 6000 copies were sold on the first day"(Eckel, 110). "It was a work written at the height of Dickensā great powers, which would add to his considerable fame, bring a new work to the English language, increase the festivities at Christmastime, and contain his most eloquent protest at the condition of the poor" (John Mortimer). "Suddenly conceived and written within a few weeks, [A Christmas Carol] was the first of Dickensā Christmas books (a new literary genre thus created incidentally) it was an extraordinary achievementā "the one great Christmas myth of modern literature.".

London v.d. Illus, 6.5x4.5", gilt dec red cloth, a.e.g. Includes: A CHRISTMAS CAROL. 1843. Covers quite worn, cocked, inner hinges cracked, scattered foxing and staining, "Scrooge's third visitor" plate (edge frayed) inserted facing p130 (instead of p78) else good. FIRST EDITION, 2nd Issue (with "Stave One", red and blue title page, yellow end papers); b) THE CHIMES. 1845. Covers worn and soiled, very scattered staining else good. FIRST EDITION, 2nd state of vignette title page ("Chapman & Hall" outside illus); c) THE CRICKET ON THE EARTH. 1846. Covers worn and soiled, back cover badly ink stained, contents browned with one tiny hole on pp149-150. FIRST EDITION, with 2nd state ad in back (3 lines in italics): d) THE BATTLE OF LIFE. 1846. Covers worn and stained, rear inner hinge cracked, rear end paper with chipped corner and erasures, contents foxed. FIRST EDITION with vignette title page Todd E1, Eckel 4th issue; e) THE HAUNTED MAN. 1848. Covers worn, extremities bumped and frayed, tear in spine cover, front cover loose, overall wear else good with bright covers. FIRST EDITION. A rare treat, all five Christmas books together! And such early issues as well. A scarce find. A similar set recently (Nov. 2004) sold at auction for $14,000!.

170 x 107 mm. (6 3/4 x 4 1/4"). Five separately published works in five volumes. Publisher's cloth ("Carol" in light reddish brown, the others in scarlet), decorated in gilt and blind, smooth spines with gilt lettering, "Carol" with green endpapers, the rest with yellow glazed endpapers. Housed together in a red cloth chemise inside a fine early 20th century crimson crushed morocco pull-off case by Zaehnsdorf (signed on inside top of box) designed to look like five volumes with raised bands and gilt titling. An aggregate total of 53 woodcut illustrations in the texts, four engraved vignette title pages (the one in "Haunted" tinted), and eight engraved plates (the four in "Carol" nicely hand-colored), the illustrations by John Tenniel, John Leech, D. Maclise, and others. Front pastedowns with morocco bookplate of Estelle Doheny; front free endpaper of "Carol" and "Cricket" with ink owner inscription of C. Wethered, the first dated 13 January 1844; front free endpaper of "Chimes" inscribed "Margaret Beasley / with her Nephew's love / 1845." Eckel 110-25; Smith II, 4-6, 8-9; Todd, "The Book Collector" (1961), pp. 449-54 (for "Carol"). ā Backstrip of "Carol" with a breath of sunning, "Cricket" and "Haunted" just very slightly cocked, faint offsetting to title page of "Haunted Man," but these imperfections merely trifling. AN UNSURPASSABLY FINE SET, everything smooth, sharp, and shining, with virtually no perceptible wear, and THE CONTENTS IMMACULATE. From the splendid library of Estelle Doheny, these volumes comprise what could easily be the finest set in the world of the first editions of Dickens' beloved Christmas novels, beginning with the immortal "A Christmas Carol," the story of the redemption of the cold-hearted miser Ebenezer Scrooge. Proclaimed by Eckels "the greatest Christmas book from the pen of any man," it was a critical and commercial success of the highest order; the work is not only finely written, but its sentiments had great appeal for Victorian taste. Our copy has all of the text first issue points listed in Smith and Eckel, but those bibliographers disagree as to whether yellow (Smith) or green (Eckel) endpapers have priority. William Todd distrusted all internal issue points beyond uncorrected text, including color of the endpapers. He believed the most reliable way to determine priority of issue was by studying the location of the gilt wreath on the cover, which was stamped by a single machine. He says, "This desideratum is a single point, one encompassing all the others, and, if it is to be a sign of issue, the one last appearing in the course of manufacture." The brass stamp with the cover design shifted to the left and developed imperfections as time went on, so Todd assigned priority to volumes with the most distance (14-15 mm.) between the right edge of the blind-stamped border next to the front joint, and the left-most extremity of the gilt wreath and with a perfect "D" in the author's name within that wreath. By these criteria, our copy is a first issue. As a result of the warm reception of "A Christmas Carol," Dickens launched a series of four further Christmas books. "The Chimes" was described by Dickens to his friend (and biographer) John Foster as striking "a blow for the poor," while "The Cricket on the Hearth" presented domestic life in the ideal Victorian home. "The Battle of Life" is a love story with a happy ending (a Victorian rom-com for the holidays), and "The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain" finds another Scrooge-like figure learning about the spirit of Christmas from a ghost. Dickens' audienceā "and later collectorsā "never lost their appetite for the beloved yuletide tales, in which good triumphs over evil in the spirit of the season. Estelle Doheny (1875-1958) was one of the most distinguished women book collectors of the 20th century. The wife of oil tycoon Edward Doheny, she began collecting books in the 1920s, eventually amassing a library of approximately 7,000 books and 1,300 manuscripts. Her interests included illuminated manuscripts, incunabula, and Western Americana in addition to fine and historic bindings, and her collection of fore-edge paintings was the most extensive ever assembled. In the summer of 1931, at the height of the Depression, she spent an average of $1,000 per day on books--something that would have shocked both the miser Scrooge and his crusading creator. Like virtually all sets of the Christmas books, this one was assembled over the years, but, remarkably, "Christmas Carol" and "Cricket on the Hearth" have been together since C. Wethered acquired the second title in 1845--nearly 180 years ago. And our "Chimes" was originally, as intended, presented as a Christmas gift. The handsome case by Zaehnsdorf, likely commissioned for Mrs. Doheny, has kept these copies in almost unbelievably fine condition. FIRST EDITIONS, "Carol" in FIRST STATE (closest interval between blind-stamped left border and left extremity of gilt wreath being 15 mm., "D" in Dickens on front cover in perfect condition); "Chimes" with First State of the vignette title page; "Cricket," and "Battle" in Second State ("Haunted" with no issue points).

167 x 102 mm. (6 5/8 x 4 1/8"). Five separately published works in five volumes. SUPERB OLIVE GREEN CRUSHED MOROCCO COSWAY BINDINGS BY RIVIERE & SON FROM DESIGNS BY J. H. STONEHOUSE (stamp-signed on front turn-ins), upper covers all with two inlaid red morocco banners, that at head with title in gilt, that at foot lettered "Lord keep my Memory Green," and each binding FEATURING AT CENTER AN OVAL MINIATURE PORTRAIT BY MISS C. B. CURRIE (signed in gilt on rear turn-ins), the five showing Dickens at different ages, painted on ivory under glass and surrounded by a gilt wreath of holly and mistletoe; raised bands, spines gilt in compartments with holly sprig, gilt lettering, gilt-ruled turn-ins with mistletoe sprig at corners, moss green watered silk endleaves, all edges gilt. Original cloth covers bound in at rear of each volume. An aggregate total of 53 woodcut illustrations in the texts, four engraved vignette title pages (the one in "Haunted" tinted), and eight engraved plates (the four in "Carol" nicely hand-colored), the illustrations by John Tenniel, John Leech, Daniel Maclise, Richard Doyle, and others. Carol with bound-in ALS FROM DICKENS dated 3 August 1842, and with two original green endpapers, one inscribed with a passage from Foster's "Life of Dickens," bound in at rear; "Chimes" with ALS from artist Richard Doyle dated 21 September [no year] bound in at front; "Cricket" with ALS from artist John Leech dated 17 July 1846; "Battle" with undated ALS from artist Daniel Maclise bound in; "Haunted Man" with ALS from artist John Tenniel to Dickens collector and bibliographer F. G. Kitton, dated 15 July 1896, bound in. Eckel 110-25; Smith II, 4-6, 8-9. ā Spines slightly faded to a uniform medium brown (and front cover of "Haunted Man" just subtly sunned to olive brown), "Chimes" with faint foxing to engraved title opening, "Haunted Man" with light offsetting to printed title (as usual), other trivial imperfections, but A SPLENDID SET--clean and fresh internally ("Carol" being virtually pristine), and THE REMARKABLY CHARMING BINDINGS WITH NO SIGNS OF USE. This is the ultimate bibliophile's set of Dickens' five Christmas books: first editions in especially fine condition, in authentic Cosway bindings by the creators of that style, and with an autograph letter, signed by Dickens or one of the artists who illustrated these works, bound into each volume. "A Christmas Carol," the immortal story of how ghostly visitations finally inject the miserly Scrooge with the Christmas spirit, is called by Eckels "the greatest Christmas book from the pen of any man . . . . Artistically it was a pronounced success, and from a literary aspect, it has delighted millions of readers." The work is not only finely written, but its sentiments had great appeal for Victorian taste. Our copy has all of the text first issue points listed in Smith and Eckel, but those bibliographers disagree as to whether yellow (Smith) or green (Eckel) endpapers have priority. William Todd distrusted all internal issue points beyond uncorrected text, including color of the endpapers. He believed the most reliable way to determine priority of issue was by studying the location of the gilt wreath on the cover, which was stamped by a single machine. He says, "This desideratum is a single point, one encompassing all the others, and, if it is to be a sign of issue, the one last appearing in the course of manufacture." The brass stamp with the cover design shifted to the left and developed imperfections as time went on, so Todd assigned priority to volumes with the most distance (14-15 mm.) between the right edge of the blind-stamped border on the left side of the cover, and the left-most extremity of the gilt wreath and with a perfect "D" in the author's name within that wreath. By these criteria, our copy is a first issue. As an added bonus, our volume contains a letter written (and flamboyantly signed) by Dickens to Messrs. Curry and Co. concerning newspaper piracy of his works by "wholesale robbers." The warm reception of "A Christmas Carol" prompted Dickens to launch a series of four further Christmas books. "The Chimes" was described by the author to his friend (and biographer) John Foster as striking "a blow for the poor," while "The Cricket on the Hearth" presented domestic life in the ideal Victorian home. "The Battle of Life" is a love story with a happy ending (a Victorian rom-com for the holidays), and "The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain" finds another grumpy old man learning about the spirit of Christmas from a ghost. The illustrations for these works were done by some of the most popular artists of the day, including those whose letters are bound into volumes here: Richard Doyle (1824-83), who created the first cover and the masthead for "Punch"; John Leech (1817-54), well known for his political cartoons and humorous illustrations for "Punch"; Daniel Maclise (1806-70), whose professional life was devoted primarily to painting, especially portraits and historical scenes; and Sir John Tenniel (1820-1914), illustrator of "Alice in Wonderland" and "Through the Looking Glass." This set was splendidly bound by the masters of the Cosway binding: Riviere, Stonehouse, and Currie. The "Cosway" style of binding, with painted miniatures inlaid in handsome morocco, apparently originated with the London bookselling firm of Henry Sotheran about 1909, the year G. C. Williamson's book entitled "Richard Cosway" was remaindered by Sotheran and presumably given this special decorative treatment. The name "Cosway" then was used to describe any book so treated, whatever its subject. Admirable miniatures on Cosway bindings were executed by Caroline Billin Currie (1849-1940) from 1910 until her death, creating such paintings for Sotheran's, usually (as here) from designs by J. H. Stonehouse for bindings executed by Riviere. The portraits created by Miss Currie for this work show a maturing Dickens, from youthful idealism to successful middl.