A CHRISTMAS CAROL

London and Philadelphia: William Heinemann and J. B. Lippincott Co., n.d. ca.1915. Early issue of the holiday classic with Arthur Rackham's illustrations. With 12 haunting colour plates, illustrated endpapers, 18 black and white illustrations and line drawings by Arthur Rackham. The colourplates with tissue-guards captioned in dark red/brown. 8vo, publisher’s original red cloth lettered and pictorially decorated in gilt on the upper cover with a ringing Christmas bell motif and on the spine in gilt in a holly and berry motif. xi, 147 pp. A nice copy with minor mellowing to the decoration and lettering, some luster gone from the cloth at the edges, the binding is strong with sharp corners, the text very clean and fresh, the plates in wonderful condition. SCARCE EARLY ISSUE IN PLEASING CONDITION. A shining example of what you get when a true masterpiece of literature is complemented by one of the world’s greatest book illustrators. An inspiring combination.
Dickens writes of A Christmas Carol in his preface: “I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book to raise the Ghost of an Idea which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their house pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.” Surely, the author would be pleased with the perennial delight his little Christmas tale has stirred in the hearts and imaginations of generations of readers. Originally, Rackham’s illustrated edition of Dickens’ classic was published during the war years (1915) and was quite well received. The artist successfully incorporated the ‘Phiz’ and Cruikshank styles into his own to create striking renditions of Victorian London with ample room to uniquely evoke ghostly fantasy images as well. His almost characterized depiction of Scrooge, features chiseled and grotesque, are as bone-chilling as his fantastic entourages of moaning ghouls. The muted, shadowed atmospheric tones so characteristically Rackham, support Dickens’ eerie tale wonderfully. Some examples of Rackham’s emerging special talent for silhouette are also included.