The Christmas Books: A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; The Battle of Life; Cricket on the Hearth; The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain.

London: Chapman and Hall, 1843-48. Complete set of Charles Dickens' Christmas Books. Octavo, 5 volumes, bound in the original cloth with gilt titles and tooling to the spine and front panels, all edges gilt. A Christmas Carol, in Prose. Being a Ghost Story of Christmas is a sixth edition with the half-title printed in blue, title-page printed in red and blue, verso printed in blue, hand-colored etched frontispiece and three hand-colored etched plates by John Leech, four wood-engravings in-text by W.J. Linton after Leech, 2pp. publisher's advertisements at rear. In very good condition with a contemporary gift inscription to the verso of the front panel. First edition of The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year with the advertisement, half-title, engraved frontispiece and additional first state pictorial vignette title page. In near fine condition. First edition of The Cricket on the Hearth: A Fairy Tale of Home with half-title, frontispiece and vignette title page with tissue guard present, first state ad leaf. In near fine condition with ownership inscriptions. First edition of the Battle of Life: A Love Story with half-title, advertisements, frontispiece and fourth state vignette title page. In near fine condition with an autograph letter bound in and period catalogue descriptions affixed to the half-title. First edition of The Haunted Man and The Ghost's Bargain: A Fancy for Christmas-Time with advertisements, frontispiece and vignette title page. A nice set. 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). "Suddenly conceived and written within a few weeks, [A Christmas Carol] was the first of Dickens’ Christmas books (a new literary genre thus created incidentally) it was an extraordinary achievement—the one great Christmas myth of modern literature.