A CHRISTMAS CAROL BY CHARLES DICKENS 1915 ARTHUR RACKHAM SIGNED DELUXE EDITION

A CHRISTMAS CAROL BY CHARLES DICKENS 1915 ARTHUR RACKHAM SIGNED DELUXE EDITION

£5,500.00

Tax included.

[DICKENS, CHARLES]. A Christmas Carol. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. London: William Heinemann, 1915.

Limited edition (of 500 hand-numbered copies signed by the artist, Arthur Rackham), leather-bound, hardcover, quarto (295 x 240 mm), pp. (xvi), 147, (1). English text. Bound in publisher's deluxe gilt pictorial vellum, pictorial title, 12 coloured plates (mounted and with captioned guards) and b/w text illustrations (some full-page); top edge gilt, other edges rough-trimmed; pictorial endpapers. Condition: VERY GOOD. Binding tight and secure with the joints and hinges intact. Covers well-preserved with some light discolouration, lacking the ties. Interior very well-preserved, partly unopened. A beautiful copy.

Notes: Signed limited edition of Rackham's illustrated edition of Dickens' classic Christmas tale. One of 500 numbered copies for sale in Great Britain, Ireland, and the Colonies signed by illustrator Arthur Rackham. In very good condition. A Christmas Carol "may readily be called the Bible of Christmas. It was issued about ten days before Christmas, 1843, and 6000 copies were sold on the first day"(Eckel, 110). "It was a work written at the height of Dickens' great powers, which would add to his considerable fame, bring a new work to the English language, increase the festivities at Christmastime, and contain his most eloquent protest at the condition of the poor" (John Mortimer). One of the leading literary figures during the Golden Age of British book illustration, Arthur Rackham's work is noted for its robust pen and ink drawings, which were combined with the use of watercolour, a technique he developed due to his background as a journalistic illustrator. "Arthur Rackhamâ s fanciful imagination gave his illustrations instant recognition, and his dedication to illustration kept him in the public eye for 30 years" (Hodnett, 233).

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