A Christmas Carol. Beautifully Illustrated by Arthur Rackham. London: Heinemann, 1947. Reprint. Pp, 147. Publisher’s green cloth boards lettered & decorated in silver, pictorial endpapers, in original dust jacket. A few faded patches to the cloth, jacket chipped with a little loss to tail of spine; neat gift inscription to endpaper.  

With twelve coloured plates and numerous black and white illustrations throughout the text by Arthur Rackham.

Long recognised as a principal artist in the Golden Age of British book illustration ‘A Christmas Carol’ marks the first time Arthur Rackham illustrated a work by Charles Dickens.

Under Rackham’s pen and watercolour brush this Christmas classic becomes an elegant children’s book. His illustrations range from sentimental scenes from childhood, such as Bob Cratchit’s sliding on the ice at Cornhill to the “mystical and fantastic” realisations of Scrooge’s spiritual journey.