A Holiday Book for Christmas and the New Year, Embracing Legends, Tales, Poetry, Music, Sketches of Manners and Customs, Games and Sports etc

[1852]. x, 228pp. Copiously illustrated with engravings by the likes of Kenny Meadows, Stockdale, Leech. Tinted frontispiece and title page, by Edmund Evans. Red buckram boards, all edges gilded, extensive gilt decoration and blind stamps (heavily rubbed at edges, cracked at base of spine, slightly soiled). Coloured endpapers. Elephant folio. Occasional spotting internally, and a couple of loose leaves. Ex library, but with the mildest of markings (some pencil numbers on copyright page, a couple of same ownership stamps in tex). Overall good minus condition. A collection of articles, stories, pictures, music etc, which appeared in the London Illustrated News between 1842 and 1852 which “it appeared to the proprietors…would form an elegant, instructive, and amusing Holiday Book for Christmas the New Year, a book which would make most beautiful Christmas present and be cheerful and pleasant companion to the old as well as the young, in every Christmas circle. A beautiful volume, albeit that it has seen better days. Endless hours of varied Christmas entertainment and distraction from a time gone by.