Christmas Books by Charles Dickens. With Twenty-Eight Illustrations by F. Barnard. Chapman and Hall c. 1880.

This undated Chapman & Hall edition of Dickens’s Christmas Books (with twenty-eight illustrations by Fred Barnard, printed by Virtue & Co.) is generally dated to circa 1878-1882. Although issued in the same large-octavo format and style as the publisher’s Household Edition of Dickens’s works, the title page does not carry the words "Household Edition." Bibliographers regard it as part of that series in all but name.

Christmas Books by Charles Dickens. With Twenty-Eight Illustrations by F. Barnard. Contains: A Christmas Carol; The Chimes; The Cricket on the Hearth; The Battle of Life; and; The Haunted Man.

Published by Chapman and Hall, London. Undated, but c. 1880. Printed by Virtue and Co., London.

A good hardback with dark green morocco leather spine and corners. Spine with gilt tooled raised bands and gilt title. With green cloth over boards. Covers with some bumping and wear and rubbed to extremities. Feathered marble endpapers, with some cracking to rear, but soundly bound.

Text is bright, clean throughout with the occasional light scattered spoot. Marbled edges to text block. Attractively illustrated by Barnard.

Text in English.

(3) + 200pp.

Dimensions: approximately 250mm high x 190mm wide x 18mm.

Approximate weight 570g (unpacked).