A Christmas Carol. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham

Description

Publisher’s original full olive green cloth, black lettering and decor to spine and front board, with holly motif to spine and Christmas elves ringing bells to front board, all fresh and unfaded. Very minor wear to board corners and base and top spine. Spine very mildly cocked. Publisher’s windmill device in black to centre rear board. 15.7 x 20.6cm. Binding slightly shaken, as usually found. Boards protected in removable clear plastic sleeve. Pictorial endpapers (Scrooge before and after his change of heart), lightly browned. Pictorial bookplate of W. S. Adams tipped in to verso of front free endpaper. Early issue of the first trade edition (published the same year as the first limited edition): this has the first issue point of ‘1915’ to verso of title page, but lacks the first issue point of the frontispiece being mounted on dark green paper (Riall). Title page printed in red and black, with striking design of holly leaves and berries. With 12 full-colour plates, as called for, all with captioned tissue guards. 18 B/W illus, including head- and tail-pieces, headings, and in-text illus, of which two stretch across double-page spreads. Just a few occasional spots of light foxing. Dicken’s classic as illustrated by Arthur Rackham, whose illustrations ‘exploited the growing strengths of commercial printing to create imagery and characterizations that reinvigorated children’s literature, electrified young readers, and dominated the art of book illustration at the start of a new century’ (ODNB). Riall pp. 44-45. Robust packaging. Tracking can be added to overseas orders on request.