The Christmas Books: The Chimes; The Battle of Life; Cricket on the Hearth; The Haunted Man and The Ghost’s Bargain.

First editions of the four final novellas in Charles Dickens’ Christmas Book series. Octavo, original cloth with gilt titles and tooling to the spine and front panels, all edges gilt, frontispiece, title page vignettes. The set contains: First edition, second issue of The Chimes: A Goblin Story of Some Bells that Rang an Old Year Out and a New Year. [London: Chapman and Hall, 1845] with the publisher's advertisement for A Christmas Carol; with the half-title; 13 illustrations including frontispiece and vignette title by Maclise, Doyle, Leech and Stanfield; second state of the vignette title. First edition, second issue of The Cricket on the Hearth. A Fairy Tale of Home. [London: Bradbury and Evans for the author, 1846] with the half-title; 14 illustrations including frontispiece and vignette title by Leech, Doyle, Stanfield, Maclise and Landseer; with three-line italic heading for Oliver Twist on p.175 of the publisher's ads at rear. First edition, later issue of The Battle of Life. A Love Story. [London: Bradbury and Evans, 1846] with the half-title; 13 illustrations including frontispiece and vignette title by Maclise, Doyle, Leech and Stanfield; 2pp. advertisements at rear. First edition, later issue of The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain. [London: Bradbury and Evans, 1848]; 16 illustrations including frontispiece and vignette title by Leech, Stanfield, Tenniel and Stone. In very good condition. Ownership plate to the front pastedown of The Battle of Life and to the front free endpaper of The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain.