The Holly Tree

Dickens's The Holly-Tree Inn, originally published in Household Words, Extra Christmas Number, December 1855.

"The Guest," "The Boots," and "The Bill," parts one, three, and seven respectively, were by Dickens, the other contributors being his chief collaborator, Wilkie Collins, William Howitt, Adelaide Anne Procter, and Harriet Parr ("Holme Lee").

The colourful cover, with snow scene of the inn and a carriage, suggests a chronological setting prior to the Railway Age, an impression that the 18th c. costumes of the ostler and his wife reinforce.

The packaging (or, more accurately, re-packaging) of the framed-tale from Household Words suggests that Hodder and Stoughton were marketing the slight, 40-page volume as a children's book for Christmas sixty years after its initial publication, permissible under the revised provision of the Imperial Copyright Act of 1911, which implemented the Berne Convention (1886).

Although Dickens died in 1870 and copyright on his works therefore ran until 1920 (fifty years after the author's death), the old provision would have given the publishers to right to publish the novella since, under the Copyright Act (1842) the term was 42 years from the publication of the work, or the lifetime of the author and seven years thereafter, whichever was the longer.

Even though the original work involved multiple authors, this text contains only Dickens's contributions, and therefore until 1911 would have been free of copyright limitations from 1897.

The book is in good condition considering the vintage of the book but the tipped-in colour plates are in fine condition.

Author: Charles Dickens
Artist: H. M. Brock
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton, 1911 First Edition (Out of Print)
Number of pages: 40
Format: Hard Cover; Part Colour illustrations
Size: 6" x 8" (160mm x 200mm)
Book Condition: G - Good
Code: HOLYTREE01