Artunderwraps

First Edition Prices, Values and Auction Results

The holiday season would be considered incomplete without a reading or performance of Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol. This classic winter tale of greed and redemption serves as an annual reminder there is always room in your heart for kindness to others. For book collectors, this is the apex of works by Dickens who has penned myriad well-known titles including Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations. The reddish-brown cloth first edition of A Christmas Carol published in 1843 (London) by Chapman and Hall boasts a two-color title page in red and blue. There is a gilt wreath and title on the cover, gilt lettering on the spine, and inside includes 4 hand-colored plates and illustrations by John Leech. First edition, first issues in excellent condition can command as much as $20,000 but first edition, second issues in lesser condition can be found in the $2,000-$5,000 range. Later published editions are accessible for hundreds of dollars. No Dickens collection is complete without it.

We collected a sample of 76 auction results of Dickens, Charles's A Christmas Carol from 3 different auction houses. The lowest overall price realized in our sample was $54 and the highest overall price realized was $22705. The overall average price was $2094 and the median price realized for the book was $900. There were 22 auctions (41%) with a price realized below the low estimate, 16 auctions (30%) exceeding the high estimates, and 16 auctions (30%) within the range of the low and high estimates.