Charles Dickens

[irene]

does any one know when charles dickens book christmas tales was publised by r e king was published

I bought a book and it has a date written 1896 but I think it was published before this date

thanks for your help

[Nali]

As far as I can tell: A Christmas Carol is a novella by English author Charles Dickens first published by Chapman & Hall on 17 December 1843.

 

From Wikipedia: Dickens began to write A Christmas Carol in October 1843,and completed the book in six weeks with the final pages written in the beginning of December. As the result of a feud with his publisher over the meagre earnings on his previous novel, Martin Chuzzlewit,Dickens declined a lump-sum payment for the tale, chose a percentage of the profits in hopes of making more money thereby, and published the work at his own expense. High production costs however brought him a mere £230 (equal to £19,128 today) rather than the £1,000 (equal to £83,164 today) he expected and needed, as his wife was once again pregnant.

 

Bound in red cloth with gilt-edged pages, the book was published in London by Chapman and Hall, and released on 17 December 1843. Four expensive, hand-coloured etchings and four black and white wood engravings by John Leech accompanied the text. Production was not without problems. The drab olive endpapers were replaced for the second printing with yellow endpapers, but, once replaced, clashed with the title page which was then redone.

 

Modestly priced at five shillings (equal to £20.79 today), the first run of 6,000 copies sold out by Christmas Eve and the book continued to sell well into the New Year. By May 1844, a seventh edition had sold out. In all, twenty-four editions ran in its original form. In spite of the disappointing profits for the author, the book was a huge artistic success with most critics responding positively.