Christmas Carol 1844 edition question

[bluechip]

I hope its not bad form to ask this here but I don't know much about rare books without superheroes in them.

 

Whilst eating turkey leftovers and listening to the kids play Fallout 4 I have been sorting through things to sell.and I have no idea how to price this item: It's a 32 page 1844 edition of Christmas Carol by Harper and Brothers with no illustrations. It's in a bound volume with other Dickens books from the same era and, according to the interwebs it could be the first American printing of A Christmas Carol from as early as January 24, 1844.

 

Searches show offering prices of the later American edition but none for this edition. Is much less appealing visually, but it did precede the hardback edition in the US (and dates from among the earliest printings of any kind after the "first first" edition)

 

Question is what's it worth? If its not much, I'd prefer to hang onto it. But if it's worth as much as a New Mutants 98, maybe I could talk somebody into a trade.

[BB-Gun]

I find it strange that it was bound with other stories or novels. Sounds more like a book club edition.

 

 

[Hibou]

This might be a starting point for your search... best of luck!

 

 

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1039882333&searchurl=kn=1844&sortby=1&tn=a%20christmas%20carol

[bluechip]

I find it strange that it was bound with other stories or novels. Sounds more like a book club edition.

 

 

Think somebody did it after the fact, binding together pamphlet editions.

[bluechip]

This might be a starting point for your search... best of luck!

 

 

http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=1039882333&searchurl=kn=1844&sortby=1&tn=a%20christmas%20carol

 

I did. Thanks! Very helpful site.

 

The listing on the link has a key error, if some other sites are correct: the other sites said that the earlier edition the seller refers to was in fact published several months later. Of course, I could be choosing to believe the site that says mine is the earlier edition because I just hope it is. But the backup data seems to have been well-researched.

[Hibou]

Personally, I love searches like this!

 

I've accumulated a few antiquarian books over the years (mostly on Viking exploration) and love the research aspect of it.

 

I know exactly what you mean by wanting what you have to be the 'earliest edition'!

[BB-Gun]

How about a picture? Above is my copy with a cover by Hal Foster.

[Bookery]

It is often difficult, if not impossible, to accurately ascertain the true first American editions of popular books first published in Europe in the 19th century. The U.S. had no international copyright laws for most of the 1800s. "A Christmas Carol" it turns out had at least 10 different American publishers producing copies almost immediately upon its British success. The January 1844 Harpers is among the earliest, and is sometimes described as the "true first" American. It appears a Carey & Hart version published in Philadelphia a few months later is a more accurate reprinting of the 1st British, and has also been called the 1st American by some.

 

Early Harpers (January or otherwise) seem to carry some clout with collectors, though you would have to check on valuations. Bound in with other volumes makes it a tricky situation too, though as you suggested, many of Dickens early works were issued as pamphlets or even in serial form. Also, throughout the 17th and 18th centuries, books were often issued unbound. Personal libraries were very important back then (hard to believe now perhaps), and wealthier readers would often prefer to buy books loose so that they could have their own personal bookbinders do them in a uniform or decorative way they preferred for the "look" of their own library.

 

If you were to order, say, a new first edition by mail back then, it was not uncommon for it to be offered in a publisher's binding (sometimes with several versions to choose from), in wraps (softbound) for the less affluent, and in loose-leaf for purposes of private binding.