Christmas Carols broadside comprising Christmas Night and Christians Awake

£250 · Offered by Maggs Bros Ltd

James Guest seems to have begun his career as a printer for the sake of the early Owenite socialist newspaper, the New Moral World . He was apparently not willing to pay the stamp duty that was imposed on printing newspapers at the time, as he and a few other friends went to prison for five years for the crime of refusing it. On his release, he continued as a stationer, printer, and newsagent (although no longer printer of newspapers), and seemingly his only foray into street literature was a small group of carol sheets, of which this is one.

Found via Rare Books Intel, a search across rare-book dealers, auction houses and marketplaces worldwide.