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Monday, December 19, 2016

MARLEY WAS DEAD TO BEGIN WITH...

JFK+50:  Volume 7, No. 2163

A CHRISTMAS CAROL PUBLISHED 173 YEARS AGO TODAY

London (JFK+50) 173 years ago today, December 19, 1843, A Christmas Carol was published here in London by Chapman and Hall*.  The little book was the work of Charles Dickens** who was 31 years old.

Mr. Dickens started writing A Christmas Carol in October and finished at the end of November.  His book sold out in three days.  He wrote in black ink with a goose quill.  His original manuscript,68 pages in length, is at the Morgan Library and Museum in New York City.  

B. Myint of www.biography.com/ tells us that the phrase 'Merry Christmas,' because of its' repeated use in A Christmas Carol, became common.

Charles Dickens visited America twice on speaking tours.  His second tour earned 19,000 pounds (1.4 million today).

*Chapman and Hall Publishers, London, was founded in 1834 by Edward Chapman & William Hall.  The company published the works of Charles Dickens from 1840-1844 and 1858 to 1870.  It also published the works of Elizabeth Barrett Browning.

**Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian Era.  He was born in Portsmouth, England.  His works include Oliver Twist, Great Expectations & A Tale of Two Cities.  The remains of CD lie in Poet's Corner of Westminster Abbey.

SOURCES

"'A Christmas Carol' Unwrapped:  5 Little-known Facts Revealed," by B. Myint, December 18, 2013, www.biography.com/

"10 Things You Might Not Know About A Christmas Carol," by Molly Oldfield, Mental Floss, www.mentalfloss.com/



A Christmas Carol
by Charles Dickens
Illustrated by John Leech
Chapman & Hall, London (1843)