Christmas Carols broadside comprising Christmas Night and Christians Awake

7 x 9 inches, decorated border with decorative devices evoking snowflakes. James Guest Printer, 93, Steelhouse Lane, Birmingham

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.

Stock Code: 233372