Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol : With 45 Lost Gustave Dore Engravings (1861) and 130 Other Victorian Illustrations [Hardcover]

Charles Dickens (Author), Gustave Dore (Illustrator), Dan Malan (Introduction)

Book Description

Dust jacket notes: "This is the first book edition of a remarkable set of 45 lost wood engravings from 1861 by Gustave Dore, the great French illustrator. Recently discovered in an obscure old French magazine, they somehow eluded the grasp of scholars for the last 135 years. Apparently, even Charles Dickens did not know of their existence. They are by far the largest set of Victorian engravings for the story, and they include the first drawing ever made of Tiny Tim! But this beautiful Christmas gift book is much more than that. It also contains the full text of A Christmas Carol, plus all the other early sets of illustrations for the story (by Leech, Phiz, Abbey, Barnard, etc.) making a total of nearly 200 Victorian engravings! The dust jacket front cover features several of the lost engravings, colorized by artist Mike Nicastre. A scholarly introduction by Dan Malan, who discovered this set of lost engravings while writing a major reference work on Dore, explores the significance of the lost engravings and the relationship between Dickens and Dore, with lists of their illustrated editions...."

Editorial Reviews

From Library Journal

This profusely illustrated edition of Dickens's yuletide ghost story features 45 engravings by Gustave Dore, who was the first artist to illustrate Tiny Tim and the Cratchit family. This additionally sports 130 other Victorian illustrations.
Copyright 1996 Reed Business Information, Inc.

Review

The point of this publication, supervised by Dan Malan, of The Classics Collector magazine, is the presence of "45 lost engravings by Gustave Doré" along with 130 other Victorian illustrations. Doré did a fine job--his ghosts are the scariest, his poor the shabbiest, and his Scrooge the meanest among the examples on display--but it was a job for an ephemeral publication, not to be compared with the artist's independent projects. The full Dickens text is of course present; this reprint is an interesting oddity. -- The Atlantic Monthly, Phoebe-Lou Adams

Product Details

• Hardcover: 176 pages
• Publisher: MCE Publishing Co; 1st edition (June 1996)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 188895700X
• ISBN-13: 978-1888957006
• Product Dimensions: 9.2 x 7.1 x 1 inches
• Shipping Weight: 1.4 pounds
• Average Customer Review: 4.5 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,574,618 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Original drawings enhance a favorite story, April 4, 2011

By 

D. Duggan "IT Specialist" (Havelock, NC USA) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol : With 45 Lost Gustave Dore Engravings (1861) and 130 Other Victorian Illustrations (Hardcover)

I'm a lover of Charles Dickens and especially A Christmas Carol. I especially enjoy this book because of the beautiful and original engravings by Gustave Dore. It makes this version of A Christmas Carol so much more interesting and gives the reader a glimpse into the kind of books people read in the 1800s. Illustrations were common and enhanced the reader's enjoyment of a story. It was their version of television. Thanks for a wonderful book. A delicious bit of history and nostalgia.

1 of 7 people found the following review helpful:

4.0 out of 5 stars Costuming ideas, December 6, 2007

By 

Dodo (Michigan) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol : With 45 Lost Gustave Dore Engravings (1861) and 130 Other Victorian Illustrations (Hardcover)

I got this while on a committee for costuming a production of "A Christmas Carol". While not showing enough variety and detail to be a huge amount of help, it was useful as one piece of our research in the "feel" we wanted to create for our production. Since we were on a very tight budget and were trying to use borrowed, found, and second-hand resources, this was an important part of our research.