These are two volumes of first edition Christmas books by Dickens in a custom-fitted slipcase.
The first is The Chimes: A Goblin Story Of Some Bells That Rang An Old Year Out
And A New Year In. By Charles Dickens. London: Chapman And Hall, 186, Strand. MDCCCXLV [1845] on title page, with the imprint “London Bradbury And Evans Printers Whitefriars” on the reverse of the title page, with a list of thirteen illustrations after the imprint page, and it’s a first edition, second issue, with the name of the publishers “Chapman and Hall” at the bottom of the vignette title page, just outside the vignette; the first issue has “Chapman and Hall” printed inside the border of the plate, not outside the vignette. (The location of the publishers’ names on the vignette title page is the only point of issue listed for The Chimes.)
The spine shows an image of a bell, the title, and “By Charles Dickens” in gilt, and the red covers are decorated with the title, six chimes, and Dickens’ name in gilt, with an embossed floral border around the gilt decorations on the cover; these are the original red covers. There are yellow endpapers followed by an ad for A Christmas Carol, as called for by Eckel. All the edges are gilt, with 175 pages of text, followed by the imprint of Bradbury And Evans again after page 175.
The thirteen illustrations include the frontispiece and the vignette title page, both done by Daniel Maclise, and the rest were done by John Leech, Clarkson Stanfield, and Richard Doyle.
This is Dickens’ second Christmas book in his Christmas Books series. Dickens wrote it when he was in Genoa, Italy, but the city didn’t seem to have the local atmosphere he wanted - he went there to see Joseph Grimaldi perform pantomime, but he missed London - and when he got back to London, he performed a reading of the book in front of friends at John Forster’s home, the person who became the noted biographer of Dickens.
The top edges of the covers have light soiling, the frontispiece and vignette title page have very light spots on them, the tips have light wear, and the endpapers, text, and the rest of the plates are very clean.
The second Christmas book is The Battle of Life, and the title page reads “The Battle
Of Life. A Love Story. By Charles Dickens. London: Bradbury & Evans, Whitefriars. MDCCCXLVI” [1846], with the imprint of Bradbury & Evans on the reverse of the title page (“London: Bradbury And Evans, Printers, Whitefriars”), the book is dedicated to “My English Friends In Switzerland”, with a list of thirteen illustrations after the dedication page, and again the frontispiece and the vignette title page were both done by Daniel Maclise, and the rest by John Leech, Clarkson Stanfield, and Richard Doyle.
All the edges are gilt, with 175 pages of text, followed by the imprint of Bradbury And Evans (“London: Bradbury And Evans, Printers, Whitefriars”), followed by two pages of publishers’ ads for Works by Dickens at the rear, and it has no points of issue, according to Eckel.
It is a romantic novel and the fourth of Dickens’ Christmas books, and it’s a first edition, fourth issue because the cupid is holding a banner on the vignette title page and the publisher’s name has been left off the engraved title page altogether. (See Eckel page 122 for an illustration of the fourth issue.)
The front paste-down has three light smudges and a small paper at the bottom which says “Dickens, The Battle of Life: A Love Story. Fine illustrations on wood by Maclise, Doyle, Leech, etc. 12 mo, cloth, gilt edges. London, 1846 Nice, fresh copy” on it. Otherwise, the endpapers, the plates, and the text are clean, with light fraying at the crown and heel of the spine. There are no repairs or restoration to the book at all.
The Chimes is a small 8vo. and measures 6 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. wide, The Battle Of Life
is also a small 8vo. and measures the same size as The Chimes, and the custom slipcase has Dickens’ name and “The Chimes The Battle Of Life" in gilt on the spine
and measures 7 1/8 x 4 7/8 in. wide.
See The First Editions Of Charles Dickens, Their Points and Values, John C. Eckel 1932 (pages 116 to 118 for The Chimes and pages 119 to 120 for The Battle of Life).
An attractive pair of first edition Christmas books by Dickens in the original cloth and housed in a custom slipcase.