SIGNED LIMITED A CHRISTMAS CAROL, ONE OF 525 COPIES BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED AND SIGNED BY ARTHUR RACKHAM

(RACKHAM, Arthur) DICKENS, Charles. A Christmas Carol. London and Philadelphia: William Heinemann and J.B. Lippincott, (1915). Large quarto, original full vellum gilt, pictorial endpapers, top edge gilt, uncut; silk ties renewed. Housed in a custom clamshell box. $9000.

Signed limited edition of the "Bible of Christmas," number 395 of only 525 copies signed by the illustrator, with 12 beautiful mounted color plates and 20 in-text line cuts by Rackham.

"The Christmas gift-book proved an excellent market for Rackham. His sensitive and agile line earned him the appreciation of connoisseurs, while his care for the spirit of each text commended him alike to children and adults" (DNB). A Christmas Carol marks the first time Rackham illustrated Dickens' work. Dickens' Carol was first published in 1843 and "may readily be called the Bible of Christmas" (Eckel, 110). With publisher's 4-1/2 by 7-inch prospectus laid in. With renewed silk ties; later tissue guards laid in. Latimore & Haskell, 44-45. Riall, 124.

Mild foxing to preliminaries; vellum clean, gilt bright. A lovely, about-fine copy.