A Christmas Carol

By Charles Dickens and Mint Editions

Never out of print since its initial appearance in 1843, A Christmas Carol has been adapted countless times to the stage, radio, television, film and opera. The selfish miser Scrooge’s name has become synonymous with greed and indifference to the welfare of others. His immortal Christmas eve visitations by the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come have become a cultural fixture and a fundamental part of the Christmas Holidays around the world.

A Christmas Carol was conceived by the author with the deliberate intent of shaking his audience with an emotional tale designed to inspire compassion and charity toward the disadvantaged, especially children. Scrooge’s surreal, spellbinding journey into the meaning of Christmas, with its climactic insistence that a life lived without love and charity is no life at all, provides readers with one of literature’s finest, most unforgettable entertainments while celebrating the good in humanity and providing the world with the most cherished Christmas story ever written.

With an eye-catching new cover, and professionally typeset manuscript, this edition of A Christmas Carol is both modern and readable.

Since our inception in 2020, Mint Editions has kept sustainability and innovation at the forefront of our mission. Each and every Mint Edition title gets a fresh, professionally typeset manuscript and a dazzling new cover, all while maintaining the integrity of the original book.

With thousands of titles in our collection, we aim to spotlight diverse public domain works to help them find modern audiences. Mint Editions celebrates a breadth of literary works, curated from both canonical and overlooked classics from writers around the globe.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Mint Editions
• Release date: Jun 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9781513263762

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) was one of England's greatest writers. Best known for his classic serialized novels, such as Oliver Twist, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations, Dickens wrote about the London he lived in, the conditions of the poor, and the growing tensions between the classes. He achieved critical and popular international success in his lifetime and was honored with burial in Westminster Abbey.

Book preview

Stave 1

MARLEY’S GHOST

Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge’s name was good upon ‘Change for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

Mind! I don’t mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country’s done for. You will, therefore, permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail.

Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I don’t know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner. And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain.

The mention of Marley’s funeral brings me back to the point I started from. There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate. If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlet’s Father died before the play began, there would be nothing more remarkable in his taking a stroll at night, in an easterly wind, upon his own ramparts, than there would be in any other middle-aged gentleman rashly turning out after dark in a breezy spot—say St. Paul’s Church-yard, for instance—literally to astonish his son’s weak mind.

Scrooge never painted out Old Marley’s name. There it stood, years afterwards, above the warehouse door: Scrooge and Marley. The firm was known as Scrooge and Marley. Sometimes people new to the business called Scrooge Scrooge, and sometimes Marley, but he answered to both names. It was all the same to him.

Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn’t thaw it one degree at Christmas.

External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul weather didn’t know where to have him. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. They often came down handsomely and Scrooge never did.

Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, My dear Scrooge, how are you? When will you come to see me? No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was o’clock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blind men’s dogs appeared to know him; and, when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails as though they said, No eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!

But what did Scrooge care? It was the very thing he liked. To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call nuts to Scrooge.

Once upon a time—of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve—old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. It was cold, bleak, biting weather: foggy withal: and he could hear the people in the court outside go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement stones to warm them. The City clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already—it had not been light all day—and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that, although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms. To see the dingy cloud come drooping down, obscuring everything, one might have thought that nature lived hard by and was brewing on a large scale.

The door of Scrooge’s counting-house was open, that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk’s fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn’t replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part. Wherefore the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle; in which effort, not being a man of strong imagination, he failed.

A merry Christmas, uncle! God save you! cried a cheerful voice. It was the voice of Scrooge’s nephew, who came upon him so quickly that this was the first intimation he had of his approach.

Bah! said Scrooge. Humbug!

He had so heated himself with rapid walking in the fog and frost, this nephew of Scrooge’s, that he was all in a glow; his face was ruddy and handsome; his eyes sparkled, and his breath smoked again.

Christmas a humbug, uncle! said Scrooge’s nephew. You don’t mean that, I am sure?

I do, said Scrooge. Merry Christmas! What right have you to be merry? What reason have you to be merry? You’re poor enough.

Come, then, returned the nephew gaily. What right have you to be dismal? What reason have you to be morose? You’re rich enough.

Scrooge, having no better answer ready on the spur of the moment, said, Bah! again; and followed it up with Humbug!

Don’t be cross, uncle! said the nephew.

What else can I be, returned the uncle, when I live in such a world of fools as this? Merry Christmas! Out upon merry Christmas! What’s Christmas-time to you but a time for paying bills without money; a time for finding yourself a year older, and not an hour richer; a time for balancing your books, and having every item in ’em through a round dozen of months presented dead against you? If I could work my will, said Scrooge indignantly, every idiot who goes about with ‘Merry Christmas’ on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. He should!

Uncle! pleaded the nephew.

Nephew! returned the uncle sternly, keep Christmas in your own way, and let me keep it in mine.

Keep it! repeated Scrooge’s nephew. But you don’t keep it.

Let me leave it alone, then, said Scrooge. Much good may it do you! Much good it has ever done you!

There are many things from which I might have derived good, by which I have not profited, I dare say, returned the nephew; "Christmas among the rest. But I am sure I have always thought of Christmas-time, when it has come round—apart from the veneration due to its sacred name and origin, if anything belonging to it can be apart from that—as a good time; a kind, forgiving, charitable, pleasant time; the only time I know of, in the long calendar of the year, when men and women seem by one consent to open their shut-up hearts freely, and to think of people below them as if they really were fellow-passengers to the grave, and not

Reviews for A Christmas Carol

[scolgo · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Finally got around to this classic and, even though I was familiar with the story from having seen the myriad of film versions, I enjoyed reading the source material quite a bit. It's very well-written - if a bit wordy in spots, (it is Dickens after all! :), but it's a fun little morality tale that carries a good message of Christmas cheer to last all through the year.

[benkline · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Charles Dickens' classic story of Ebeneezer Scrooge and the change of heart that he undergoes by seeing 4 ghosts in a night (his old partner Marley, and the three Christmas spirits - Past, Present, and Future). As well as all the various portrayals (Mickey, Muppets, etc, etc, etc,) its a plain and good story. Nothing altogether wrong with it, nothing major to it, and typical in Dickensian fashion -ie. the ten words to describe something that one word would have sufficed (oh the joy of being paid PER WORD). Still, a classic that should be read at least once by one and all.

[tina1969_1 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A Christmas Carol is Decembers book club choice so ive left it to read over the Christmas period. However also over Christmas on the tv there has been several versions of the classic, from Alistar Simm to The Muppets. My husband I think has watched every one.So sitting down to read the book I felt I had already read it. I have read Charles Dickens twice before and both times have enjoyed but found hard going. This book I found easier. The story is timeless and is the Christmas story that everyone knows.The book is sure to bring out the Christmas spirit when read. I give the story five stars quite easily, I just wished I could have read it before the many versions on tv appeared.

[bagpuss-3 · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

One of my absolute favourite books (and films, come to that!). I read it every Christmas.

[p_s_patrick · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

If all the best qualities were taken from each of the various TV and film versions, and combined together, then that is roughly what we get in the original book. Scrooge’s sarcastic wit, miserliness, and meanness, the door-knocker turning into Marley’s face, the biting cold winter, the merriment of Fezziwig’s ball, Tiny Tim, the classic Christmas traditions, the fantastic spirits, and the ending we all know and love.As a short story of only 90 pages it works very well. Some of Dickens’s writings can be a bit over-detailed and redundant, however this is relatively compact for him, and achieves the impact, the atmosphere, and the character development that sometimes take him a lot longer in other works. Deserving of its central place in the Christmas season.

[tshrope · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Jim Dale reads this audio version of the Dickens classic, A Christmas Carol, and does a fantastic job of it! Dale is the master narrator of the Harry Potter books and brings all of his character skills and perfect inflections to this reading too. Don’t miss listening to this version; it’s better than reading it yourself, and almost as good as the Muppet movie version!

[therebelprince · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The 8th of Dickens' 24 major works, and the 1st of his 5 "Christmas novellas".... well, this is just wonderful, isn't it? Next to the characters of Oliver Twist, Scrooge and his ghosts - not to mention that little brat Tim - must be the most well-known Dickensians of our cultural consciousness. This is just first-class stuff, showcasing Dickens' skill for shorter fiction. Scrooge is perhaps Dickens' first real character. No, he's no Emma Bovary, I'll admit. But the short bursts we get of his life, combined with the ultimate causes of his change, give more insight than we saw in Oliver, Nicholas, Nell, and Barnaby. I think every person in the Western world has read this novella but, if you haven't, what are you waiting for? (The other four Christmas novellas... yeah, not so much.)

[tortoisebook · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This is the story of an old miserly misery-guts, Ebeneezer Scrooge, who is shown the error of his ways when he is visited by 4 ghosts - that of his late business partner, Jacob Marley, and the ghosts of Christmases past, present and yet to come - and then given the chance to change himself and his future and the futures of those around him.The story is beautifully written and the descriptions of Victorian London at Christmas are evocative and brilliantly capture the feeling of goodwill to all men. Scrooge's encounters with the ghosts are suitably creepy and you feel his shock and fear. Scrooge isn't the villain though - you come to understand how his character has developed as a result of a lonely childhood and always get the feeling that he has a good heart waiting to come out. You find yourself sympathising with him and willing him to be a better person. He doesn't disappoint and comes good in the end with joy and pure abandon.For me this story captures the true meaning of Christmas. It is not religious at all - with it being a ghost story I guess that would be inappropriate. Rather it is about the season of goodwill, families coming together for one day, forgetting their troubles and poverty, and eating, drinking and being merry. It also considers those far away from their families, at sea or on a lighthouse, and shows that they too pass a moment to think of their loved ones and raise a glass at Christmas.Please read this book - preferably in the run-up to Christmas. It is short, the language is beautiful, the story familiar and yet so much more. Most of all the message is timeless. A masterpiece.

[bdtrump · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

Classic Dickens - a must read for anyone interested in his writing, or just feels like getting in the Christmas spirit.

Also recommended for people who go to see the live performance of this work - the language will probably be slightly different here.

[proustitutes · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

I love this book like no other.

I just read it for the first time, and as I read through it I pictured in my head me and my future family softly turning the pages in a well-loved, often-read edition. There were so many beautiful phrases, beautiful words that only Dickens could string together so honestly and meaningfully.

The story is simple and it's a story that everybody knows. But to think of Dickens' creativity to write this before anything like it had been done before? To imagine the kindly trembling hand of the last Ghost, or the blinding light, or the face on the door-knocker? It's wildly imaginative. Decades later it still works.

I think it's beautiful that this book lasts throughout the ages..... and I know that as long as there is a human society that continues to appreciate literature, this small book will be cherished.... its romantic values, its simple redemption... it's absolute beauty.

[klburnside · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

this is maybe the perfect story. i've had it forever and just never got around to reading it. of course i already knew the story before reading the book. it's really nice to read a story where you really understand why someone is mean and then they see the error of their ways and change instead of just being defeated by the hero. the last section was so beautiful i cried. the only problem was that i've seen a muppet christmas carol so many times that it was hard to not picture bob cratchit as kermit the frog.

[engpunk77 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

ENOUGH of this play! I hate it!

[renbedell · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

A very nostalgic read. Charles Dickens is a great author, his writing, descriptions, story, and message are great. It is easy to see why this is a classic. The movies hold true to the overall feel of the book.

[ninahare · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Did you know that when Dickens wrote this little novella in 1843 as part of his ‘Christmas Series’, it changed all our Christmases? Traditional practices were going out of fashion at the time, and the book revived them. Groaning boards of turkey and iced cake, presents, dancing and mistletoe were all saved for our enjoyment…or not! At the same time it was a clear comment on early Victorian society, as when the Ghost of Christmas Present reveals two children saying; “This boy is Ignorance. This girl is Want. Beware them both, and all of their degree, but most of all beware this boy, for on his brow I see that written which is Doom, unless the writing be erased.”For me, the book was a tradition in itself. Every year, as my children grew, I’d read it, over four or five nights, ending the story with Scrooge’s transformation on Xmas Eve. Heady days!

[michael8xolotl · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Four stars on its own; five because I read it with Shannon. I like the ghost story part, which was handled better than I thought it would be, but I hate poor Tiny Tim and I don't believe in Total Abstinence. Also, I enjoy as much intercourse as possible with Spirits of any sort or kind.

Dickens was a cheeseball.

[cecrow · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Knowing the story so well in other media, I thought I'd read the original to better appreciate the variants in its many interpretations. Dickens' catchy descriptions are the finest treasure to be had from it. Scrooge lives in a dismal locale where his home "had so little business to be, it must have run there when it was a young house playing at hide-and-seek with other houses, and have forgotten the way out again." The plot moves like the wind compared to his novels. Tiny Tim is shallowly drawn, and yet wins more empathy from the reader than Oliver, Nell or Barnaby could muster. The ending is not so over the top as the movie versions, but even so Bob Crachit is tempted to call for a straightjacket when confronted by a transformed Scrooge. Too much thought at the end is liable to break the charming spell, if you attempt to imagine being confronted by such a man undergoing such a dramatic change. There's no need for that, just read and enjoy.

[starbox_2 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A great festive read,, 9 December 2015This review is from: A Christmas Carol (Paperback)Have read most of Dickens' novels but only just got round to A Christmas Carol, a lovely little novella which may be sentimental but is still a real tear jerker.We meet Ebenezer Scrooge, a joyless, utterly mean employer, sitting in his freezing office on Christmas Eve. He rejects his good-natured neplhew's invitation for Christmas dinner, turns away two gentlemen collecting for the poor: ("Are there no prisons?...the Union workhouses? Are they still in operation?") and complains of his clerk, young family man Bob Cratchit, wanting the next day off.But Scrooge is to meet three spirits that show him Christmases past, present and future. We glimpse the Cratchit family making merry as best they can, and Scrooge sees how he will be remembered by his acquaintances in the future, and changes his outlook in consequence.Although I'd never read this before, I'd picked up quotes and the general theme from snippets on TV, and had envisioned it being too syrupy for me ... but it's a wonderful read.

[sturlington_1 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

So my animosity toward all things Dickens continues. It's not that I don't like this story. Who could dislike it, having seen it umpteen-million times since childhood and knowing that it's basically responsible for Christmas as we know it today? But really, Dickens is so sentimental and so melodramatic. Every character stands for something but isn't really a person. Tiny Tim--need I say more? I read this, and fairly quickly too, and I finished it, which I haven't done with a Dickens work since I was forced to read Hard Times in college. But yet again, I am reminded that Dickens' style and subject matter is the antithesis of what I like to read. I should honestly stop trying, but his belovedness confounds me. Now you'll be saying that I'm the Scrooge!

[briannad84 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

Better than watching all the movie and play variations.

[barnbum44 · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

The book, A Christmas Carol, is a fable. In the story a miser goes through a series of life changing events to help him to grow as a person. The book must be read by someone who can dissect the book so its hidden true meaning will shine through!

[leilaniktaylor · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The classic tale of Scrooge being visited by ghosts of his past, present, and future in order to give him the spirit of christmas. Being told in a graphic novel, the pictures really made it come alive almost like watching the movie. Some strips did not have words so stopping to search the picture made me read into the emotions and put me back in the 19th century. This is a great story for christmas, and also a great way to get students to reflect on their own lives and actions.

[devil_llama · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

The classic Dickens tale of Scrooge and Marley, in which Charles Dickens set out to create a Christmas tradition...and succeeded, if our current December madness is any indicator. This tale remains popular because it is at once heartwarming and grim, painting a picture of a world that Dickens chose to chastise his whole life for not taking care of those that lived and worked in obscurity and poverty. The picture of courage, represented by the Cratchits, particularly Tiny Tim, is an attractive one, compelling us all to reexamine our own lives and determine if there is some way we can overcome our personal obstacles with half as much grace and dignity.

[juju1220 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

I selected Charles Dickens A Christmas Carol to read as my classic selection. First off, I completely agree that all authors have the ability to teach a lesson throughout each of their written pieces of work. Teaching children how they should behave through literature is a rewarding and positive things. This story is one of my all time favorites. Who has not been told the great story about Mr. Scrooge? We have seen him on the big screen in movies and cartoons all beginning in the mind of the great author Charles Dickens in 1843.Mr. Scrooge (felt sorry for the guy..kind of:) was a greedy, cold hearten business man that lost his business partner Jacob Marley. Scrooge lacked many needed skills to be a loving, caring, compassionate person no goodwill or charity in his body. Scrooge is visited by his business partners ghost and is warned to shape up and change his ways because he would lead a miserable afterlife like Mr. Marley is currently doing. He is then visited by three ghosts- The ghost of Christmas past, present and the Christmas yet to come. All themes revolve around Scrooge changing his heart and his ways. That the benefits of changing far out way his old, lonely, cold miserable ways. Lessons throughout the story to have love and family in your life. Treat others how you would loved to be treated, give to others that are not a lucky as you and your wealth. Great story to share with any age group of students especially around the holiday season.

[akingzett16 · Rating: 1 out of 5 stars]

Great story to read around Christmas (of course). Exciting adventures take place ALOT in this book.

[jfslone · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

A classic tale of human values and morality, set in the midst of everyone's favorite holiday season. Dickens manages to weave a tale that speaks to those of every generation and location. It's a quick read, but don't be fooled, it's jam-packed with heartfelt emotion and wonderful language.

[laurabrook_1 · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

Great! Darker than I thought it would be, and I liked it better for that very reason. Reading this may very well be a new Christmas tradition!

[ganeshaka · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

My uncle sat me down one Christmas eve past - me, a restless pre-teen brat - and made me take turns with him, reading this book aloud. "Kinda BO-ring and hokey," I thought, "It's Christmas time, I get it." But my uncle had been a sailor. He knew about messages in bottles thrown from ships at sea. Fifty years later, I recall this incident with tears. And somewhere, adrift in The Ether, Dickens nudges my uncle, points at me and winks.

[anneofia · Rating: 5 out of 5 stars]

This particular edition of Dickens' 1843 Christmas story is as much about illustration as it is about the story. The full title tells you this: "Charles Dickens' A Christmas Carol: With 45 Lost Gustave Dore engravings..." The book includes a number of fascinating introductory pages about both Dickens and Dore. The lost engravings were done in 1861. The book also includes an additional 130 illustrations - the work of artists who did the original illustrations for other Dickins' books; such as George Cruikshank and H.K. "Phizz" Browne, This is an intriguing look at illustration in the Victorian era - the well-illustrated story is a bonus!

[pa0ro · Rating: 4 out of 5 stars]

This is a book that a man who did not like a chrismas day and very cold person change to a very kind person.Tree goust help him to change.I thought to be kind person is very important thing. so I want to be a kind person.

[annalovesbooks · Rating: 3 out of 5 stars]

ISBN 1550660012 - An adaptation of Charles Dickens' tale from Amoco (yes, the oil company) and Madison Marketing Unlimited. One of a series of four, including Good King Wenceslas, The Snow Queen and Mole's Christmas Welcome. Since I collect Christmas books, I'm always happy to find another one. Ebenezer Scrooge is a terrible miser who works his clerk, Bob Cratchit, very hard. Even on Christmas Eve, the seventh anniversary of the death of Jacob Marley, Scrooge's partner, Cratchit sits at his desk in the cold, working - because Scrooge has no Christmas spirit whatsoever. At home that night, Marley appears to Scrooge and warns him of what will happen to him if he doesn't change his ways. Marley says three spirits will visit him and Scrooge should listen to them. One after another, the spirits of Christmas Past, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come visit, showing Scrooge the error of his ways. He awakes in the morning, thrilled to not have missed Christmas, and begins to change by doing an anonymous good deed for the Cratchit family.It is difficult, as an adult, to fairly review a book like this. I've spent decades seeing movies and books of this story, ranging from absolutely fantastic to cringe-worthy. I know the details of the original and see immediately what is lacking (his nephew, his interaction with the Cratchits, etc). This book isn't for me, or the other parents who know the story; it is for the very young reader (ages 3-6) who won't know the original and so won't miss the missing details. For them, it is probably a better book than it is to me. The (uncredited) illustrations are okay, but not the sort I'd think would appeal to kids. The last page contains a bit of information about Dickens, which I found to be a nice touch but again, unlikely to appeal to kids. Not the best kids' edition of this classic.- AnnaLovesBooks