1903 What Christmas Is As We Grow Older by Charles Dickens & Other Stories by Different Authors / Charming Victorian Book of Short Stories

Here is a charming antique pocket-sized copy of What Christmas Is As We Grow Older by Charles Dickens and Other Stories. Being a reprint of Charles Dickens' Christmas Numbers of Household Words, originally published in 1851. This later edition by Chapman & Hall is undated but following research I believe it to be from 1903. In this essay, Dickens explores the emotional and sentimental aspects of Christmas from the perspective of someone who has aged and experienced the passing of time, love, loss, and the changes that come with adulthood.

Charles Dickens' Christmas Numbers for Household Words were special seasonal editions of his popular weekly magazine, Household Words, which he published between 1850 and 1859. These Christmas Numbers became a hallmark of Victorian Christmas celebrations and contributed to the evolving literary traditions around the holiday season. They featured serialized stories, novellas, poems, and articles, often with a festive or moral theme suitable for family reading during Christmas.

While Dickens was the driving force behind these editions, he often worked with a group of writers, including Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, Adelaide Anne Procter, and others.

Each Christmas Number had a thematic unity, with interconnected stories written by various authors. Often, these themes revolved around communal or family gatherings, reflecting the social aspect of Victorian Christmas celebrations. The stories would range from ghost tales to heart-warming narratives, with Dickens contributing one or more stories, typically the lead or framing story.

What Christmas Is as We Grow Older is a poignant meditation on the evolution of the Christmas experience as one ages. It captures the bittersweet nature of the holiday season, blending joy with remembrance, and emphasizes the importance of love, charity, and forgiveness. The essay is characteristic of Dickens’ ability to tap into universal human emotions. It mirrors aspects of Dickens’ own life and world view. Dickens was deeply affected by the passing of family members and friends throughout his life, and he had a sentimental view of Christmas, seeing it as a time for reflecting on personal values, relationships, and the importance of generosity.

With a colour frontispiece and title page, else unillustrated. The pages are clean and tightly bound with just some occasional spotting. This copy has not been written in and there are no other markings of previous ownership. The top closed edge is gilt. 

Delightfully bound in green cloth covered boards with dark green holly decoration, red berries and titles. The spine has tanned a good deal in comparison to the front and back so that it is now hard to discern the title. With a little rubbing and rounding to the corners and spine ends, but minor.

Perfect as a stocking-filler. Your charming antique pocket-sized copy of What Christmas Is As We Grow Older will be wrapped with care in tissue and ribbon* and sent well packaged. I am always happy to add a gift card with a message to the parcel if desired.

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PLEASE NOTE POCKET SIZED DIMENSIONS: H 15 cm x W 11 cm, 0.11 kg, 109 pages. I dispatch worldwide daily from the UK. (There are just a very few countries which I am unable to ship to).

* If you would prefer your book not to be decoratively wrapped but sent simply in the full protective packaging, please add a note to the order.

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