Christmas Books (Wordsworth Classics) [Paperback]

Charles Dickens (Author)

Book Description

Publication Date: February 5, 2004 | Series: Wordsworth Classics

Each of these short stories was written specifically for Christmas. They combine concern for social ills with the myths and memories of childhood and traditional Christmas spirit-lore. The stories include A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, The Battle of Life and The Cricket on the Hearth.

Editorial Reviews

Review

'One of the most glorious achievements of publishing in our time' - Daily Telegraph. 'It will never be more possible for a more complete and perfect edition to be put on the market' - Arthur Waugh, Past President, Dickens Fellowship. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

From the Publisher

The classic, definitive, world-famous Nonesuch Press edition of 1937, finally available again and bound in leather and linen. The text in these stunning volumes is taken from the 1867 Chapman and Hall edition, which became known as the Charles Dickens edition and was the last edition to be corrected by the author himself. The Nonesuch edition contains full-color illustrations selected by Dickens himself, by artists including Hablot Knight Browne ("Phiz"), George Cruikshank, John Leech, Robert Seymour, and George Cattermole.

The Nonesuch Dickens reproduces the original elegance of these beautiful editions. Books are printed on natural cream-shade high quality stock, quarter bound in bonded leather with cloth sides, include a ribbon marker, and feature special printed endpapers. Each volume is wrapped in a protective, clear acetate jacket.

The books are available as individual volumes, or as sets. The six-volume set contains Oliver Twist, Bleak House, Christmas Books, Nicholas Nickleby, David Copperfield, and Great Expectations together with Hard Times. The three-volume set contains A Tale of Two Cities, Little Dorrit, and The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. --This text refers to the Hardcover edition.

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Product Details

• Paperback: 416 pages
• Publisher: Wordsworth Editions Ltd (February 5, 2004)
• Language: English
• ISBN-10: 1853262684
• ISBN-13: 978-1853262685
• Product Dimensions: 7.7 x 4.9 x 0.9 inches
• Shipping Weight: 9.9 ounces (View shipping rates and policies)
• Average Customer Review: 4.8 out of 5 stars  See all reviews (4 customer reviews)
• Amazon Best Sellers Rank: #1,601,283 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)

More About the Author

One of the grand masters of Victorian literature, Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Landport, Portsea, England. He died in Kent on June 9, 1870. The second of eight children of a family continually plagued by debt, the young Dickens came to know not only hunger and privation,but also the horror of the infamous debtors' prison and the evils of child labor. A turn of fortune in the shape of a legacy brought release from the nightmare of prison and "slave" factories and afforded Dickens the opportunity of two years' formal schooling at Wellington House Academy. He worked as an attorney's clerk and newspaper reporter until his Sketches by Boz (1836) and The Pickwick Papers (1837) brought him the amazing and instant success that was to be his for the remainder of his life. In later years, the pressure of serial writing, editorial duties, lectures, and social commitments led to his separation from Catherine Hogarth after twenty-three years of marriage. It also hastened his death at the age of fifty-eight, when he was characteristically engaged in a multitude of work.

Customer Reviews

Most Helpful Customer Reviews

25 of 25 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Very moving stories and a great publishing house, December 13, 2000

By 

Toby Anderson (California) - See all my reviews
(REAL NAME)   

This review is from: Christmas Books (The Oxford Illustrated Dickens) (Hardcover)

Dickens' Christmas Books might be some of his most overlooked works, except for, of course, "A Christmas Carol." But in these stories he has captured the season's spirits of reflection and faith better than any other work I've read. "A Christmas Carol" is an acknowledged masterpiece; "The Chimes" and "The Battle of Life" are particularly moving as well. Four of these five stories bring me to tears by their ends.

I started in 1991 to read one story per year in the published sequence, (for Christmas 2000, I'm reading The Haunted Man again) and this has made December and its holidays more enjoyable and meaningful for me. I hope to continue the cycle and look forward to reading "this year's Christmas story" aloud to my family as my kids grow up.

Oxford Press/World's Classics publishes excellent quality paperbacks, and they do justice here to Dickens' powerful works. I highly recommend this work (and especially this publisher) to anyone; if you're looking for "A Christmas Carol", get this volume of all the Christmas Stories and enjoy even more of Dickens' masterful ability to weave the human condition into such moving short stories.

6 of 6 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Review of the Nonesuch Dickens edition, May 7, 2009

By 

Z Hayes (TX, USA) - See all my reviews
(VINE VOICE)    (HALL OF FAME REVIEWER)    (TOP 50 REVIEWER)   

This review is from: Christmas Books (Nonesuch Dickens) (Hardcover)

My review here is not of the novel, but rather of the Nonesuch edition of Dickens' classic. The book itself is a facsimile edition of the 1937 Nonesuch Dickens, and is published by Barnes and Noble. The book itself is in quality hardback. "The Christmas Books" Nonesuch edition has the spine bound in leather and the rest of the cover is cloth-bound [the color is red].The dust jacket is clear quality plastic. The paper quality is of good stock and is cream in color.

The text is set in Martin's Type and the etchings were printed and hand-colored by A. Alexander and Sons Ltd. This is a beautiful and affordable classic [I own six of them and plan to get the rest] and the Nonesuch Dickens Classics will enhance any collector's library.

1 of 1 people found the following review helpful:

5.0 out of 5 stars Great edition, January 31, 2010

By 

Emily "Parrot Momma" (Richmond, VA USA) - See all my reviews

Amazon Verified Purchase

This review is from: Christmas Books (Nonesuch Dickens) (Hardcover)

These books are not easy to carry around because of their size, but they are well-done and fun to read.