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DICKENS, Charles.
A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas.
With Illustrations by John Leech.
First edition, first issue text with the second choice yellow endpapers. Dickens's lavish gift book was one of his biggest publishing triumphs and the foundation of many of the elements of the modern Christmas festival. This copy has the crucial first issue points: the half-title in blue, the title page in red and blue, and "STAVE I" at head of text. Dickens had originally chosen green-coated endpapers, but the green colour flaked off too easily, and part-way through the binding process the publishers switched to yellow. It is likely that copies with either green or yellow endpapers were both available to buyers on the day of first publication.
Octavo. Original reddish-brown cloth, titles to spine and cover gilt, floral panelling to boards in blind, yellow coated endpapers. Hand-coloured steel engraved frontispiece and 3 plates, 4 woodcuts within the text. Ownership signature to half-title. Spine rolled and faded, boards lightly rubbed with dampstain and a small mark to upper board, contents lightly toned with occasional spotting and a few small areas of dampstain. A very good copy.
