woodcuts from the same artist. But when the financial returns came in, Dickens was terribly disappointed. He had been led to expect that he would receive a thousand pounds, whereas there was a profit of but two hundred and thirty. However, the second and third editions brought the profits up to over seven hundred and twenty-odd pounds, and countless other editions followed, so that in the end the profits were considerable; but it was Dickens's first and last experience with "colored plates."
John C. Eckel, the accepted authority on first editions of Dickens, says that the "Carol" has just enough "bibliographical twists" to make it interesting. An ardent collector could master them in ten minutes. The title-page of the first issue of the first edition should be printed in red and blue; the date must be 1843; and Stave I, on page one, should have the numeral "1," and not be spelled out, "one," as it was in the second issue. Moreover, the "end-papers," that is to say, the papers pasted down inside the covers, should be of a Paris green color and not a pale lemon yellow. I bought such a copy thirty years ago for thirty shillings, and sold it a few years later, when I was hard up, for fifteen dollars; such a copy is now worth thirty pounds if in fine condition, whereas a copy lacking these points is worth only a few dollars.
A few, a very few copies were issued with the title-page in red and green, with the lemon end-papers, and
