It’s terrible, isn’t it. All these retailers attempting to milk as much as possible from Christmas. Take your mind off it with this little curiosity – an 1843 advertisement for ‘A Christmas Carol.’ It was published in ‘Punch’, December 30th, 1843 and Mr Dickens’s book had only been avaliable for just over a week: it was issued on December 19th. And what I love about book collecting is that this ephemeral advertisement is a lot rarer than that £10,000 book. The ad appears on the back page of the magazine and bound up copies never have the front and back covers. They were thrown away. So although you can buy Volume 6 of Punch very easily, you won’t get this simple, naive, un-knowing advertisement for a book which is know all over the world, shapes our very concept of Christmas, helped ameliorate Victorian public attitude to poverty and has never been out of print since 1843…
For sale on ebay.
Gert yer social ‘istry! Sooocial ‘istry, mum, y’ can’t buy finer…
1843. First edition.
