A Christmas Carol: The Original Manuscript Edition

by Charles Dickens, Colm Tóibín (Foreword by)

Overview

A first-ever trade edition of the original manuscript of the beloved Christmas classic.

Every year at the holidays, the historic Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan displays one of the crown jewels of its extraordinary collection: the original manuscript of Charles Dickens’s A Christmas Carol, with its detailed emendations, deletions, and insertions in Dickens’s own hand. Here, for the first time in a beautiful trade edition, A Christmas Carol: The Original Manuscript Edition presents a facsimile of that invaluable manuscript, along with a typeset version of the story, a fascinating introduction by the Morgan’s chief literary curator on the history of the story, and a new foreword by Colm Tóibín celebrating its timeless appeal.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780393608649
Publisher:	Norton, W. W. & Company, Inc.
Publication date:	11/01/2016
Pages:	160
Sales rank:	394,594
Product dimensions:	6.20(w) x 8.40(h) x 0.80(d)

About the Author

Charles Dickens (1812-1870) is one of the most acclaimed and popular writers of all time. His many works include the classics The Old Curiosity Shop, Oliver Twist, Nicholas Nickleby, Barnaby Rudge, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield, Great Expectations, Bleak House, Hard Times, Our Mutual Friend, The Pickwick Papers and many more.

Colm Tóibín is currently the Irene and Sidney B. Silverman professor of the humanities at Columbia University and succeeded Martin Amis as professor of creative writing at the University of Manchester.

Date of Birth:

February 7, 1812

Date of Death:

June 18, 1870

Place of Birth:

Portsmouth, England

Place of Death:

Gad's Hill, Kent, England

Education:

Home-schooling; attended Dame School at Chatham briefly and Wellington

Editorial Reviews

"It is thrilling to have, for the first time available to everyone, a superbly-produced facsimile of the manuscript of A Christmas Carol, which enables us to follow every stroke of Dickens’s pen as, in a white heat of excitement, he creates his timeless Christmas masterpiece."

MICHAEL SLATER

"[Dickens's] handwritten pages, digitally photographed in full color for the first time. . . . Now [readers] can see more clearly how [A Christmas Carol] came to be."

John Williams

06/01/2016
Each holiday season, Manhattan's famed Morgan Library & Museum displays one of its most important documents: the original manuscript of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol, with corrections, deletions, and insertions all in Dickens's own hand. Since I can practically recite this entire work by heart, I will be interested to see this first-ever trade edition facsimile of the manuscript. .

Library Journal

2016-08-21
A perennial holiday favorite is immortalized with a singular trade edition of the original manuscript.In association with the Morgan Library & Museum in Manhattan, which places the original manuscript of Charles Dickens’ timeless Christmas classic on public display each holiday season, this collectible reprint “represents the most faithful transcription to date.” The edition includes a foreword by acclaimed author Colm Tóibín, who adds factual commentary about Dickens’ writing inspiration and how the author designated the past, the present, and the future as the “unearthly protagonists” in his redemptive and morally purposeful story of Scrooge. Tóibín believes the tale itself, a “dark journey of the soul,” derives much of its power from its grim portrait of London. The book is introduced by the Morgan Library’s chief literary curator Declan Kiely, who explores Dickens’ determination in writing the story—while he suffered through a miserable cold—and the many pivotal personal (financial anxiety), professional (prior book sales), and political issues (his advocacy for social reform) affecting his life of “ecstatic restlessness” leading up to the drafting of the story in the fall of 1843. Kiely artfully describes the tale’s five theatrical “staves” and scrutinizes the author’s creative process and heavily edited composition. He also notes several minute details in Dickens’ writing style, the original manuscript’s trail of sale, and the intricate disbinding and preparatory processes taken to produce this special volume. Dickens’ original manuscript in his cursive penmanship—with some of the author’s spelling “peculiarities” corrected)—is featured opposite its verbatim translation. The storybook, impressively produced and crisply analyzed by both Tóibín and Kiely, harbors the potential to joyfully transform a burdensome year of “misery to merriness.” A unique, ageless Yuletide treasure for fans and collectors alike.

Kirkus Reviews