313

Charles Dickens (1812-1870)

A Christmas Carol. First Philadelphia Edition.

Philadelphia: Carey & Hart, 1844.
Second American edition, traditionally thought to be the first, octavo; title printed in red and blue; illustrated with a hand-colored frontispiece ("Marley's Ghost") and three plates by P.S. Duval after John Leech, as well as four wood-engraved plates; bound in original publisher's purple-black cloth stamped in blind, gilt-stamped spine (scattered foxing and stains throughout, light marginal toning, sporadic corner creases; neatly rebacked preserving the original spine, a touch sunned, extremities bumped, tiny losses to cloth at corners, couple small stains, just over-opened in one place, inked gift inscription to front flyleaf); housed in custom patterned paper box; 6 1/8 x 3 7/8 in. 


This Philadelphia edition of A Christmas Carol was originally thought to be the first American until bibliographer Walter E. Smith determined via newspaper advertisements from the period that the New York Harper & Brothers edition preceded it by about four months.

Gimbel/Podeschi A80.

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