The Cricket on the Hearth Charles Dickens Other Fiction

This is the first edition, first printing, first state, of the third Dickens Christmas book, an unrestored copy in the publisher s original illustrated red cloth. Condition is very good. The elaborately gilt and blind stamped red cloth remains square, bright, and tight, with vivid gilt on the front cover and spine and no appreciable color shift between the covers and spine. The binding shows light overall scuffing and soiling, shelf wear to the spine ends and corners, and mild rippling of the cloth at the upper center of the rear cover. The contents are notably clean, with no spotting, no previous ownership marks, and only mild toning. The original pale yellow endpapers are present, as is the two-page vignette preceding the title page. This copy contains the first state, 10-line advertisement leaf for Oliver Twist following the text. The gilt edges remain bright. The binding is protected beneath a clear, removable mylar cover.Although the title page of The Cricket on the Hearth is postdated 1846, publication was on 20 December 1845.Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was an English writer and social critic, widely viewed as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. "In October 1843 he had the sudden inspiration of writing a Christmas story intended to open its readers' hearts towards those struggling to survive on the lower rungs of the economic ladder and to encourage practical benevolence, but also to warn of the terrible danger to society created by the toleration of widespread ignorance and actual want among the poor. The result, written at white heat, was A Christmas Carol: in Prose, published by Chapman and Hall on 19 December as a handsomely bound little volume which met with marked success. The first edition sold out by Christmas Eve. By 1844, the novella had gone through 13 printings. Myriad editions, as well as stage and screen adaptations, continue to accumulate, with no apparent slackening of pace or interest over time.Christmas Carolwas only the first and foremost of several Christmas-themed stories. Dickens eventually produced five Christmas books. The Carol s "more overtly political successor" The Chimes followed in December 1844, The Cricket on the Hearth in December 1845, and The Battle of Life in December 1846. Dickens s fifth and final Christmas Book, The Haunted Man, was published in December 1848. The Christmas books, particularlyThe Chimes, TheCricket, and theCarol, were the centerpiece of Dickens public reading tours in the 1850s and 60s. "In The Cricket, the story centers on John and Dot Peerybingle, whose marriage is threatened by a wide difference in their ages. When confronted with the possibility of Dot's infidelity John consults the spirit of the Cricket on the Hearth whose chirping Dot has said brings luck. The cricket assures John that all will be well. In the end the misunderstanding is cleared up and the couple's happiness is restored. The story also features the Scrooge-like conversion of hard-hearted toymaker Tackleton."Reference: Smith II, 6; ODNB