THE KEEPING OF CHRISTMAS AT BRACEBRIDGE HALL, BEAUTIFULLY ILLUSTRATED WITH 23 PLATES BY C.E. BROCK
IRVING, Washington. The Keeping of Christmas at Bracebridge Hall. London: J.M. Dent, 1906. Octavo, original elaborately gilt-stamped parchment paper boards, pictorial endpapers, uncut, top edge gilt.
First Brock-illustrated edition of this charming Christmas book, with 23 lovely color plates depicting the Christmas season in the Midlands.
Though widely regarded as an American author, Washington Irving spent 17 years abroad in Europe. In 1815, he moved to England in a failed attempt to bail out his family's import/export business. While the firm went bankrupt two years later, Irving stayed in England and eventually became close friends with Walter Scott, who helped and mentored him. During this period, Irving gained a remarkable understanding of British culture. In 1821, he published The Sketch Book, a work that cemented his reputation on both sides of the Atlantic. In 1822, he published Bracebridge Hall, a series of loosely connected short stories—character sketches—set at a manor near Birmingham and based on a real Jacobean manor, Aston Hall. This work combines lightly edited sections of Sketch Book and Bracebridge Hall—particularly the Christmas-themed sections, including a stand-alone story intended for holiday reading, "Christmas." The work is embellished with color illustrations by C.E. Brock, one of the great figures of English book illustration known for his compelling depictions of British life. This is a volume in Dent's Series of English Idylls.
Light, mainly marginal, foxing to interior, offsetting to endpapers, faint foxing to binding, gilt bright. A lovely copy in extremely good condition.