A Christmas Carol

DICKENS, Charles. A Christmas Carol. London: William Heinemann, 1915. First Arthur Rackham edition, de luxe issue limited to 525 copies hand-numbered and signed by the illustrator, offered here finely rebound in the finest materials.

8¾ × 11¼, 147 numbered pages. Limited to 525 hand-numbered copies signed by the artist. With twelve full-page illustrations in colour mounted on brown paper and protected by captioned tissue guards, twenty drawings in black and white, pictorial endpapers (here retained), all by Arthur Rackham. The deluxe issue of this story is a much larger production than its subsequent trade version, with handmade paper, very generous margins, and colour plates that have been printed separately on different paper, showing a far greater depth and clarity than those in the smaller trade edition (Riall p. 24).

Recently rebound with a distinctly vintage look by the talented Rosy Gray of Black Cat Bindery, a traditional craft bookbindery based in the heart of Somerset, UK.  A spectacular full leather binding in warm tan goatskin, featuring hand-onlaid portraits of Scrooge on both front and rear boards. The front cover shows Scrooge's earlier, miserly self, hunched protectively over a bulging bag of money, while the back cover shows him festive, open-armed and smiling, both of these mirroring the story's arc and Rackham's own design for the endpapers. A variety of the finest goat and calfskin have been used for the onlays, a mixture from both Harmatan and Oakridge, and J Hewit & Sons, the historic leather merchant which was founded in 1823 and continues to manufacture the finest quality leathers for bookbinding. Two raised bands to spine frame a green morocco title label lettered in gold, and several decorative holly branches with additional double rules are embossed in black. Hand-sewn light green, emerald green and oatmeal headbands, and silk marker ribbon in amber. Top edge gilt and other edges untrimmed. Absolutely gorgeous genuine 1980 Cockerell hand-marbled endpapers in complementary colours, and black embossed single ruling on the turn-ins. Original illustrated endpapers retained and bound after the new hand-marbled ones. 

Housed in a beautiful clamshell case covered in green cloth with crushed oatmeal silk sides, and lined in emerald green suedel. The front side of the clamshell is embossed with Rackham's depiction of the doorknocker in the opening scene of the story, and the spine is embossed in gilt with title, author and repeat holly branch motifs.

Condition-wise, there is sporadic foxing and mild soot deposits to endpapers and mostly extremities throughout, the original endpapers (while retained and bound after the new ones) are slightly chipped to extremities, and there is a contemporary 1915 inscription ("To Tidler, Xmas 1915") on the front blank that also has a tidemark towards the joint. 

A very traditional colour palette, and a binding that looks like it might have been produced in a fine workshop a century ago. And, if this bookseller may humbly say so, it might just be one of the most beautiful A Christmas Carol ever created.

Heinemann commissioned the "obvious, popular and consumable story, A Christmas Carol, to be the Rackham book for Christmas 1915. This was the first Dickens story Rackham had attempted" (Hamilton, p. 108). The result was "decidedly successful, for [Rackham] contrived to adapt the tradition of 'Phiz' and Cruikshank to his own characteristic style in the pictures of Victorian London and at the same time found scope for his fantasy in the ghost scenes. We also find him here developing his special talent for silhouette, rare among illustrators. he only once attempted Dickens again - with The Chimes for the Limited Edition Club in 1931" (Hudson, p. 106).