Originally published in Boston in 1898 as a small format gift book, complete with its own box, Holly Berries from Dickens seemed to promise a Christmas book of a sort. It isn't. At least not directly. Something quite different awaits inside. These holly berries comprise over 120 quotations from just over 20 works by Charles Dickens including his Christmas stories and the author himself. Presented as a series for each day from Day 1 to Day 31, some quotations, such as “The will to do well . . . is the next thing to having the power”, are attributed to one of his characters, in this case Mr Pecksniff. Other attributions are to one of his works by title, as in “Energy and determination have done wonders many a time” from Bleak House. A few, including “It does not follow that the more talkative a person becomes the more agreeable he is” carry the simple tag Dickens. These holly berries are in season year-round.(amazon)