Available Copies from Independent Booksellers
Price: US$4229.75 + shipping
Condition: Very Good
Description: 4to. original decorated full vellum gilt, teg, rest uncut (some toning and spotting, lacks silk ties, tiny chip at headcap, else clean & bright throughout); pp. xvi (last blank)], 148 (last colophon), with frontispiece and 11 other colour tipped-in plates (tissue-guarded) + black and white drawings in text. No. 369 of a limited edition of 525 copies signed by the artist. 'Arthur Rackham'. A very good copy.
Seller: Arapiles Mountain Books - Mount of Alex, Castlemaine, VIC, Australia
Price: US$5650.00 + shipping
Condition: Good
Description: Beautifully signed and numbered at limitation page by Arthur Rackham: "This Edition is limited to five hundred and twenty-five copies, of which five hundred, numbered 1-500, are for Great Britain, Ireland and Colonies; and twenty-five, numbered 501-525, are for presentation. This is No. '363, Arthur Rackham.'" Very attractive signature and numbering in what appears to be variety of fountain pen. Publisher and year at copyright: "London: William Heinemann, 1915." Large 9 1/4" x 11 1/2" design. Cream vellum (leather) boards, gilt impressed cover design and titles, moderate shelf wear, rub, discoloration; some bow which is common with these limited editions in vellum. Cover depicts whimsical mischievous elves hanging from bells among titles and decoration; gilt spine titles and holly vignette with Heinemann at heel. Illustrated endpapers of the greedy Scrooge and ebullient transformed character. Thick heavy stock rough-cut deckled pages generally very good with attractive toning. Varying fox inside covers and at front, back few leaves. Fine illustration plates mounted on dark greenish-brown heavy stock matte leaves with borders. Includes eight full-colour plates and four additional rarities seldomly seen elsewhere by the ever enchanting artist, Arthur Rackham. Each with crisp tissue guards captioned in red. Eighteen b&w illustrations, couple of which are two-page spreads, decorative headers, vignettes, and tail pieces throughout. Bind good, square; hinges intact. Remnants of original gold ribbon set in back cover. Scarce near very good signed deluxe issue of the classic Dickens' tale. In October 1843, Charles Dickens, heavily in debt and obligated to his publisher, began work to help his family's meagre income. A Christmas Carol has long since become one of the most beloved in the English language. As much a part of the holiday season as holly, mistletoe, and evergreen wreaths, this perennial favourite continues to delight and rekindle thoughts of charity and goodwill. With its characters exhibiting many qualities often ascribed to Dickens himself, the imaginative and entertaining tale relates Ebenezer Scrooge's eerie encounters with spectral visitors. Journeying through Christmases past, present, and future, he is ultimately transformed from an arrogant, obstinate, and insensitive miser to a generous, warm-hearted, and caring human being. Written by one of England's greatest and most popular novelists, A Christmas Carol has come to epitomize the true meaning of Christmas. From preface: "I've endeavoured in this Ghostly little book to raise the Ghost of an Idea which shall not put my readers out of humour w/themselves, the season, or me. May it haunt their house pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it." - C. D. Printed in Great Britain by Richard Clay and Sons, Limited, Brunswick Street, Stamford Street, S.E. Bungay, Suffolk. 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall. 147 pages. Insured post. Size: 4to - over 9¾" - 12" tall
Seller: The BiblioFile, Rapid River, MI, U.S.A.
RACKHAM, Arthur; DICKENS, Charles. A Christmas Carol. London: William Heinemann, 1915, 1915.
Price: US$6500.00 + shipping
Description: Edition de Luxe, Signed by Arthur Rackham [RACKHAM, Arthur, illustrator]. DICKENS, Charles. A Christmas Carol. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. London: William Heinemann, [1915]. Limited to 525 numbered copies, of which 500 are for sale in Great Britain, Ireland and Colonies (this copy being No. 444), signed by Arthur Rackham. Large quarto (11 7/16 x 9 inches; 291 x 230 mm.). xv, [1, blank], 147, [1] pp. Twelve color plates mounted on heavy brown paper, with descriptive tissue guards printed in red, and twenty drawings in black and white. Title-page printed in red and black. Publisher's vellum over boards pictorially stamped and lettered in gilt on front cover and spine. Later yellow silk ties. Top edge gilt, others uncut. Gray and white pictorial endpapers. Later silk ties. The inner hinges have been expertly strengthened and there is a small (one inch) neat repair to the top of the front free end-paper. For some unexplained reason there is an additional front free endpaper. Very feint tape marks on endpapers from a removed protective jacket. With the rectangular pictorial bookplate of Betty Kampmann on front paste-down. Apart from the aforementioned this is a very fine and bright copy, one of the best that we have ever seen, the vellum is very fine and the gilt stamping on the front cover and spine much brighter than is usually seen. Housed in a felt-lined, white buckram over marbled boards clamshell case, spine with black leather label lettered in gilt. "He [Rackham] is not usually remembered as an illustrator of Dickens, but A Christmas Carol (1915) was decidedly successful, for he contrived to adapt the tradition of 'Phiz' and Cruikshank to his own characteristic style in the pictures of Victorian London and at the same time found scope for his fantasy in the ghost scenes. We also find him here developing his special talent for silhouette, rare among illustrators." (Derek Hudson. Arthur Rackham, p. 106). Latimore and Haskell, pp. 44-45. Riall, pp. 124-125.
Seller: David Brass Rare Books, Inc., Calabasas, CA, U.S.A.
Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. William Heinemann, London, 1915.
Price: US$6500.00 + shipping
Description: Rackham, Arthur. First edition, Deluxe Issue, one of 525 copies signed by Rackham. 12 full page mounted illustrations in color and 20 drawings in black and white by Arthur Rackham. 4to. Fine Dickens Christmas Carol Illustrated by Rackham. Notes Hudson: "[Rackham] is not usually remembered as an illustrator of Dickens, but A Christmas Carol was decidedly successful, for he contrived to adapt the tradition of 'Phiz' and Cruikshank to his own characteristic style in the pictures of Victorian London and at the same time found scope for his fantasy in the ghost scenes. We also find him here developing his special talent for silhouette, rare among illustrators.He was well qualified by sympathy to interpret Dickens in certain of his moods." Latimore and Haskell p. 44; Riall, p. 124; Hudson p. 106 Original full gilt-decorated vellum, t.e.g. Silk ties renewed. Housed in custom vellum backed box with chemise 12 full page mounted illustrations in color and 20 drawings in black and white by Arthur Rackham. 4to First edition, Deluxe Issue, one of 525 copies signed by Rackham.
Seller: James Cummins Bookseller, ABAA, New York, NY, U.S.A.