Gift Idea No. 1 – Dickens at Christmas

Somehow, Dickens and Christmas have become almost synonymous. It is the very spirit of Christmas which Dickens conjured from his fertile and so charitable mind – and this is the kind of celebration of the Yuletide Feast which over the years we have come to accept as being the archetypal Christmas.

After the massive success attained with A Christmas Carol in 1843 Dickens continued the series throughout the 1840s, maintaining what he called “the Carol philosophy” to “strike a sledgehammer blow” for the poor, uneducated, and repressed. In typical Dickens fashion he drove his message home with a mixture of humour and good cheer. The Christmas Books were: A Christmas Carol 1843, The Chimes 1844, The Cricket on the Hearth 1845, The Battle Of Life 1846, The Haunted Man 1848,

Dickens discontinued the Christmas books after The Haunted Man, devoting his “spare” time to the publication of weekly magazines, Household Words (1850-1858) and All the Year Round (1859-1867), in which he included annual Christmas Stories. Included are fictional sketches verging on the autobiographical, recollections of childhood, reflections on past holidays and old friends, as well as tales of misunderstandings and lost opportunities. Humorous, tragic, uplifting, richly human, they reaffirm the virtue of nurturing our traditions, and offer a master storyteller’s vision of the real meaning of Christmas. These Christmas stories, together with the Christmas books, forever linked Dickens with the celebration of Christmas.

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Franklin Library – The Ultimate Private Library

From the early 1970s until 2000, Franklin Library, a division of The Franklin Mint developed a following by providing beautifully bound editions that would not break the bank. Known for beautiful leather bindings, Franklin Library books were published in three styles, full genuine leather, imitation leather, and quarter bound genuine leather. The full leather bound editions were produced throughout the Library’s lifespan but the other two styles (imitation and quarter bound) were only published in the 1970s and ‘80s. For this reason all Franklin Library editions are now considered “out of print” and are no longer available for sale from the Franklin Mint.

The 100 Greatest Books of All Time series is among the most collectable Franklin Library collections. Published between 1974 and 1982, the heavily illustrated 100 Greatest Books of All Time collection features remarkable works by literature’s most legendary writers. Readers will find Charlotte Bronte, Ralph Waldo Emerson, William Shakespeare, Nathaniel Hawthorne, Goethe, Robert Frost, William Faulkner, Ernest Hemingway, Herman Melville and John Donne among the long list of greats. Along with each book subscribers received a brief reader’s guide commenting on the content of the book and its author, the design and illustration of the volume, and the enduring significance of the work in world literature.

All Editions were produced using high quality paper with pages that are sewn not glued into the binding and gold gilded page edges on all three sides. Raised spine bands give each book that distinctive antique look. The genuine full leather bound editions are the highest quality of the three. While most characteristics remained constant throughout the different series and years of production the style of end papers varied from silk moiré to decorative paper. The full genuine leather binding had 22k. gold lettering and stampings on the spine and covers and is the only edition that has the attached silk page marker.

This exclusive edition of “The 100 Greatest Books Of All Time” was privately printed and bound solely for those who subscribed to the complete collection. The books were never offered to the general public nor were they sold in bookshops and were not sold singly. This superb collection was published in a single Limited Edition.

Browse the books available at Franklin Library