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CHARLES DICKENS: THE COLLECTION OF W.H. COLLIS OF LIVERPOOL
Lot 94

DICKENS (CHARLES)
A Christmas Carol, FIRST EDITION, second issue, Chapman & Hall, 1843

1 December 2021, 12:00 GMT
London, Knightsbridge

Sold for £7,012.50 inc. premium

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DICKENS (CHARLES)

A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas, FIRST EDITION, Smith's second issue, with the 1843 title-page printed in red and blue, the text largely uncorrected, "Stave One" on p.[1] and yellow endpapers, hand-coloured etched frontispiece and 3 plates after John Leech, 4 wood-engravings by W.J. Linton after Leech, 2pp. advertisements at end, publisher's cinnamon vertically-ribbed cloth, stamped in blind and gilt (Todd's first impression, first issue, with 14-15mm. between closest points of blindstamping and gold wreath on upper cover, and the "D" of "Dickens" unbroken), yellow endpapers, g.e., one or two very minor marks, spine ends slightly bumped [Eckel pp.110-115; Smith II:4; William B. Todd, in The Book Collector, Winter 1961, pp.449-454], 12mo (162 x 100mm.), Chapman & Hall, 1843

Footnotes

VERY FINE COPY OF THE FIRST EDITION OF 'A CHRISTMAS CAROL', considered by Todd to be the first impression, first issue due to the binding, but traditionally described as the second issue, with "Stave One", the text uncorrected, red and blue title-page dated 1843, and yellow endpapers. "Dickens' changes of mind [regarding the production] led to a period in December of 1843 when there were on hand at the printers and the binders different endpapers, title-pages, half-titles and text pages already printed, though not yet cased--a situation that led to copies going out with mixed features" (Lee Biondi, Firsts, September 1997, p. 30).

Provenance: Lorraine Wilson, pencil signature on front free endpaper; Thomas Thorp, 6 July 1935, note in Collis's hand loosely inserted.

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