"The Christmas Books" (1910)

"The Christmas Books" (1910)

Educational Book Co. Ltd. (London)

Artist: Harry Furniss

We jump ahead five years to 1910, for these illustrations by Harry Furniss (1854-1925) for "The Christmas Books" published by the Educational Book Company.

I had previously spotlighted one of the plates here  but the others are worth look as well.

This one below was the one that first caught my eye, with the literalization of the "idiot" who was "boiled in his own pudding with a stake of holly through his heart!"

Also from Stave 1 is this one which includes Scrooge chowing down:

Next comes the knocker:

And a very jaunty Marley's Ghost:

More from Stave 1 with the phantoms:

Now we move on to Stave 2:

Here's a look at Fezziwig's ball:

Nothing from the present, then we skip all the way to the end of the future:

I think these are really well done. They're a bit whimsical!

This is another case where there are only a handful of illustrations and most of them are from the beginning of the story. I wonder why that is.

Next: A closer look...