DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870). A Christmas Carol. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. 8° (164 x 105mm). Half-title printed in blue, title printed in red and blue, hand-coulored etched frontispiece and 3 plates by and after John Leech, 4 woodcuts by W. J. Linton after Leech, 2-page publisher's advertisement at end. (Very lightly browned.) Publisher's original brown cloth, blocked in gilt and blind, the nearest gap between the two 15mm and the 'D' unbroken, gilt edges, green endpapers (lightly rubbed, tiny stains to upper cover, corners bumped, lower joint splitting, tiny hole to upper joint just affecting gilt tooling, headcap chipped with slight loss). Provenance: G. Biggs (bookseller's ticket) -- Ross Gray Milne (inscription dated 1 January 1844).

DICKENS, Charles (1812-1870). A Christmas Carol. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843. 8° (164 x 105mm). Half-title printed in blue, title printed in red and blue, hand-coulored etched frontispiece and 3 plates by and after John Leech, 4 woodcuts by W. J. Linton after Leech, 2-page publisher's advertisement at end. (Very lightly browned.) Publisher's original brown cloth, blocked in gilt and blind, the nearest gap between the two 15mm and the 'D' unbroken, gilt edges, green endpapers (lightly rubbed, tiny stains to upper cover, corners bumped, lower joint splitting, tiny hole to upper joint just affecting gilt tooling, headcap chipped with slight loss). Provenance: G. Biggs (bookseller's ticket) -- Ross Gray Milne (inscription dated 1 January 1844).

FIRST EDITION, FIRST IMPRESSION IN THE FIRST STATE BINDING with 'Stave I' as the first chapter heading. A masterpiece of English literature, this extremely successful Christmas book 'was issued about ten days before Christmas 1843 and 6000 copies were sold on the first day'. Eckel, p.113; William B. Todd, The Book Collector, pp. 449-455.