1905 The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens / Christmas Book / EXCELLENT Condition / Beautiful Antique Book / Illustrated by CE Brock

In absolutely excellent condition, here is a gorgeous edition of Charles Dickens' The Cricket on the Hearth (one of the five Dickens' Christmas books), beautifully illustrated by CE Brock. Published by JM Dent & Co., London in 1905. Making this copy 119 years old.

The Cricket on the Hearth A Fairytale of the Home, a short novel was published on 20 December 1845, two years after A Christmas Carol. It is the third in his series of "Christmas Books": five short books with strong social and moral messages that he published during the 1840s. In addition to A Christmas Carol and The Cricket on the Hearth, the Christmas Books include The Chimes (1844); The Battle of Life (1846) and The Haunted Man (and the Ghost's Bargain) (1848).

Bound in beautifully designed cream cloth covered boards decorated with dark grey cherubim and holly. With shiny gilt behind the titles.  Wonderfully clean and bright. The only condition points to note are a small brown mark on the rear board, a lightly bumped top rear corner, and a tiny nick in the cloth near the bottom of the spine. The gilt is shiny bright.

Inside the pages are clean and tightly bound. Has an inked name with a date of 1905, plus a Dickens centenary stamp on the front paste down (see photos). All of the eight colour plates are present and in super condition, there are also nine line drawings. The frontispiece still has the original tissue guard which has some very light spotting. 

A scarce and very attractive Christmas book. Your antique Dickens' novella The Cricket on the Hearth 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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H 18.5 cm x W 12.5 cm, 0.37 kg, 171 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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