Today In History: Charles Dickens Publishes A Christmas Carol

I have endeavoured in this Ghostly little book, to raise the Ghost of an Idea, which shall not put my readers out of humour with themselves, with each other, with the season, or with me. May it haunt their houses pleasantly, and no one wish to lay it.

-- Charles Dickens, Preface, December, 1843. A Christmas Carol in Prose Being a Ghost Story of Christmas.

Charles Dickens' novella, A Christmas Carol in Prose Being a Ghost Story of Christmas (London: Chapman and Hall, 1843), tells the tale of an elderly miser named Ebenezer Scrooge who is haunted by the ghost of Jacob Marley, his former business partner.  Marley lived a selfish, stingy, greedy life -- and Scrooge is of the same unpleasant ilk. Appearing in chains, burdened with money boxes, Marley warns him of the portentous spirits of Christmas Past, Present, and Yet to Come, and urges Scrooge to change and avoid eternal misery. Just a couple of weeks past December 19th, A Christmas Carol became a best seller, leading to many new editions; translations into other languages; and adaptations to film, theater, and other media over the following centuries. Dickens' simple, but popular tale of one man's transformation into a kinder, gentler, and more generous human being lifted the minds and hearts of rigid, class-based Victorian society; taught the importance of giving; and elevated his status as a writer. 

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) struggled with financial hardship. He worked in a factory as a child, dreamed of being an actor, and tried to make ends meet as a Parliamentary and newspaper reporter.  A gifted writer,  he used satire to comment on social morals and conditions, with detailed characterizations in his prose. He became a short story writer and novelist whose works were successfully serialized in monthly and weekly magazines before they were published as books.

Charles Dickens wrote fourteen novels, including David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations, and A Tale of Two Cities, all with colorful, impressionable characters and intricate plots and subplots. Dickens is considered the greatest English novelist of the Victorian era, and his classic works are read and enjoyed to this day in schools and homes all over the world. 

The following articles are drawn from Proquest Historical Newspapers, which informs and inspires classroom teaching and learning.

• L.H. Robbins. (1943, Dec 19). Dickens' Christmas Gift to Mankind. New York Times (1923-) 
• The Story: A Christmas Carol.. Charles Dickens Needed to Pay a Debt.  (1964, Dec 20). The Sun (1837-) 
• Mulligan, H. A. (1957, Dec 22). A Christmas Carol: How Dickens Wrote It. The Sun (1837-) 
• Dickens, M. (1967, Dec 03). Christmas Book Review: Why Did Dickens Write 'A Christmas Carol'? Boston Globe (1960-) 
• Mulligan, H. A. (1981, Dec 20). There's a Bit of Charles Dickens in Every 'Christmas Carol' Character. The Sun (1837-) 
• MccLaughlin, J.  (1988, Dec 16). 'Christmas Carol' Makes Rounds. Boston Globe (1960-) 
• Guinn, J. (1999, Dec 08). How Dickens Shaped Views of Christmas: Classic: When the Novelist Wrote A Christmas Carol' in 1843, Scrooge Was No Exaggeration. The Sun (1837-) 
• Bottum, J. (2006, Dec 16). What Dickens Wrought: The Latest Heirs to a Tradition Forged by the Success of 'A Christmas Carol'. Wall Street Journal (1923-) 
• Kehe, M. (2008, Dec 23). How Charles Dickens Invented Christmas: 'A Christmas Carol' Was Not Just a Book But a Victorian-Era Christmas Miracle. The Christian Science Monitor (1908-) 
• Keating, S. (2010, Dec 17). Why We Love a Scrooge at Christmas: Charles Dickens Put His Own Social Conscience at the Heart of His Most Famous Tale, A Christmas Carol--But Even He Couldnt Have Imagined Just How Far Ebenezer Scrooge Would Carry His Message Since. The Irish Times (1921-) 

Tips:

• Cottam, Michelle. Charles Dickens. Chicago: Austin Macauley Publishers, 2023. e-book.
• Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol: A Ghost Story of Christmas, Floating Press, 2016. e-book.
• Hardy, Barbara Nathan. Dickens and Creativity. 1st ed. London: Continuum, 2008.  e-book.
• Rawle, Matt. The Redemption of Scrooge. Nashville, Tennessee: Abingdon Press, 2016. e-book.
• Tipton, Annie. God Bless Us Every One! : Devotional Inspiration from A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens. 1st ed. Newburyport: Barbour Publishing, Inc., 2016. e-book.

Images:

• Charles Dickens- A Christmas Carol - Title Page - First edition 1843, Courtesy of Wikimedia.
• Leech, John.  Illustrator. Marley's Ghost - A Christmas Carol, 1843, Courtesy of Wikimedia.

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