Searching for the Provenance of a Book

April 2, 2020 CM

SEARCHING for the provenance of Charles Dickens’ A Christmas Carol

PLEASE SHARE

3 years ago, a dear friend gave me this old book for Christmas. I treasure this gift very much. And I have since been trying to find out the story behind it. My uneducated research lets me to believe, that the book was a limited edition and not a commercially available print edition from the 1900.

The publisher was Chapman & Hall. Chapman & Hall were publishers for Charles Dickens (from 1840 until 1844 and again from 1858 until 1870).
There is no publishing date and edition number mentioned.
The 2 images in the book do not match my research on The Christmas Carol from that era.
The hardcover is blank on the outside.
The dust cover and a page on the inside seem to be an indication that the book was printed for The Daily News and Leader. Was it for Christmas gifts for their staff, business associates, or maybe for advertising? Or could it have been a give away at a theatre production of the Christmas Carol?
The News was founded in 1846 by Charles Dickens, who also served as the newspaper’s first editor. The paper does not exist anymore.
The name in the front is Agnes Marler.
The book was bought by my friend in 1989 at a Sunday antique book market on the South Bank, in London.
Dimensions: 4” x 6” or 10cm x 15cm