DICKENS' THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH, FIRST EDITION

DICKENS, Charles. The Cricket on the Hearth. London: Bradbury and Evans, 1846. 12mo, original full red cloth gilt, all edges gilt. $2200.

First edition of Dickens' third Christmas Book, illustrated with frontispiece, vignette title page, and 12 illustrations by Leech, Doyle, Landseer and Stanfield.

Dickens created a new literary genre with his annual Christmas books. Beginning in 1843 with the publication of A Christmas Carol, Dickens published five Christmas-themed books at holiday time. The Cricket on the Hearth was the third in the series, and "it is said to rank second in importance as a Christmas Book" after A Christmas Carol (Eckel, 119). The Cricket on the Hearth was published on 20 December 1845, the title page postdated 1846. It proved enormously popular, doubling the circulation of its predecessors, with the first edition sold out by the end of the year. First printing, with second state of advertising leaf at rear.

Binding clean, with gilt bright. A lovely, fine copy.