A Christmas Carol
Being a Ghost Story of Christmas

The 1843 first edition of this classic tale is reissued here with the original illustrations by Punch caricaturist John Leech.

Charles Dickens (Author)

9781108057141, Cambridge University Press

Paperback / softback, published 3 January 2013

186 pages, 4 b/w illus. 4 colour illus.
21.6 x 14 x 1 cm, 0.24 kg

Charles Dickens (1812–70) was an established novelist when he decided to produce a Christmas story, which was written in only six weeks and published at the end of 1843. The book was an immediate bestseller, and had it not been for the very high production costs of the specially commissioned illustrations and the decorative binding, it would have been a great commercial success. This strategic error meant that Dickens did not make the profits he expected, which contributed to his falling out with the publishers, Chapman and Hall. The story, however, has endured to this day as a classic and remains Dickens' best-known and most adapted work. This reissue of the first edition, with its famous illustrations by Punch caricaturist John Leech (1817–64), is printed in black and white, but the four colour illustrations found in the original can be viewed at http://www.cambridge.org/9781108060400.

Stave I. Marley's ghost
Stave II. The first of the three spirits
Stave III. The second of the three spirits
Stave IV. The last of the spirits
Stave V. The end of it.

Subject Areas: Literary studies: c 1800 to c 1900 [DSBF]