Dickens’ Cricket on the Hearth, First Edition Second State 1846. 

Size: 6 3/4 x 4 1/2 in. 

This book is titled The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens, it’s the third book of his five Christmas books, and it’s a first edition in the second state. The book is bound in crimson cloth, with gilt lettering and gilt decorations on the spine and a front cover which depicts a fireplace in gilt, blank endpapers with the owner’s name (Evelyn Bach) and a penciled note below her name which says “1st edition, 2nd state”, a frontispiece and a vignette title page both illustrated by Maclise, then a blank page on the reverse of the vignette followed by the regular title page which reads “The Cricket On The Hearth, A Fairy Tale Of Home. By Charles Dickens”, and the book was printed and published in London in MDCCCXLVI [1846] by Bradbury and Evans, at 90 Fleet Street and Whitefriars; the next page restates that the book was printed in London by Bradbury And Evans, Whitefriars, followed by a page dedicated to Lord Jeffrey and dated December 1845, then a page which lists the Illustrations (there are fourteen) along with the name of the engraver and artist for each illustration. (Maclise was probably the most notable of the illustrators listed.) The text is 174 pages long and there are two ads at the rear, one about the New Edition of Oliver Twist and the last one describes Mr. Dickens’s Works, and all the edges are gilt, and it is the italics at the top of the Oliver Twist ad that make this book a first edition in the second state:  the italics read “On the First of January will be published, to be completed in Ten Monthly Parts, price One Shilling each, No. I of …”, and the words in italics occupy three lines in the ad, not two - if the words in italics took up two lines, the book would have been a first edition in the first state, but since the words in italics occupy three lines in the ad, the book becomes a first edition in the second state. Picky, but true.  

Dickens began writing the book around mid-October 1845, finishing it by the beginning of December, and although the title page states the book was published in 1846, the book was actually released on December 20, 1845. He was trying to create a cheerful creature that chirrups on a hearth - that was the cricket in the title - a symbol of good fortune, happiness, and protection for the family. It is often interpreted as a kind of household fairy or guardian angel watching over the family and ensuring the well-being of everyone, and in some cultures   

it represented health and wealth.  

The book measures 6 3/4 x 4 1/2 inches wide, which made it a foolscap octavo, according     to Eckel (see Eckel page 119), and it is in very good condition, with a tight binding and clean pages and text, light soiling on the front cover, faint brown spots before the frontispiece page and on the title and dedication page, light wear at the crown and heel of the spine and light  rubbing at the tips, and it is scarce in the second state and even rarer in the first state.  

First state copies listed online run from $1700 to $2200 and second state copies listed online go for $320 to nearly $900. 

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