[DICKENS, CHARLES]. A Christmas Carol. In Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas. London: Chapman and Hall, n.d. [1860].
'READING EDITION'; cloth-bound, hardcover, octavo (20.5cm x 13.5cm x 2cm), pp. 166. English text, with illustrations throughout. Bound in publisher's original red cloth with titles and decoration in gilt to spine and upper board, blind panelled covers, all page edges gilt, illustrated by John Leech with four hand-coloured plates and black and white drawings within the text. Condition: VERY GOOD. Binding tight and secure. Slight bumping to spine ends. Some very light scattered fox spots. A remarkably well-preserved copy of Dickens' first and most famous Christmas book. Scarce thus.
Notes: Exceptionally rare and important edition of arguably the finest work of fiction of the 19th century. This rare edition is known as the 'reading edition', owning to it being used by Dickens in his public readings of A Christmas Carol; hence the size of the book is notably larger than other editions.
