“If you stop a hundred people on the street, a hundred of them would know A Christmas Carol,” says David Carlson, of D&D Galleries, which is offering a rare 1843 first edition, first issue of the Charles Dickens classic on 1stDibs. The narrative has been recast in every conceivable medium, from stage plays and silent films to the beloved, anarchic joy of The Muppet Christmas Carol. Yet before the adaptations and the cultural saturation, there was simply this small, cloth-bound volume.
If the tale told in A Christmas Carol is endlessly engaging, the original physical books are remarkable in their own right. Dickens was not merely interested in selling a story — he was obsessed with its presentation. He financed the production himself, insisting on high-quality materials, gilt edges and four hand-colored etchings by the illustrator and caricaturist John Leech. It was a costly gamble that resulted in a gorgeous object, designed to be cherished rather than just read.
What makes this specific copy of A Christmas Carol a grail for the serious collector, however, isn’t only its beauty but its bibliographic significance. Dickens, a notorious perfectionist, quite literally stopped the press mid-run to make tweaks, meaning this early copy has quirks not present in subsequent editions.
“While not only in the original cloth, this copy has the two earliest points that Dickens corrected,” Carlson says, “one being chapter one, originally titled ‘Stave I,’ then changed to ‘Stave One.’ The second is the green endpapers, which he later switched to plain yellow.” Furthermore, finding an example in this condition is a minor miracle. “Many copies have been rebound, as the cloth was not very sturdy,” Carlson notes.
To hold the book is to step into a particular moment in time, like a customer browsing a store in 1843. “This copy would have been one of the very first off the press and onto their shelves before any changes or corrections were made,” says Carlson.
Ultimately, the value of the volume extends beyond its rarity or its condition. It is a beautiful object, certainly, but it is also a profound symbol. It serves as a tangible reminder that the holiday season is more than a date on a calendar — it has also come to represent a spirit of generosity and the possibility of radical personal change, as embodied by Scrooge’s final, enduring vow: “I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year.”
