English, Scottish, & Welsh Fiction, Horror, Phases of Life - Fiction, Motivations - Fiction, Holidays - Fiction, Character Types - Fiction

Charles Dickens' a Christmas Carol

Name: Charles Dickens' a Christmas Carol
Author: Charles Dickens, Gustave Dore
ISBN: 9781888957006

by Charles Dickens, Gustave Dore

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Overview

From the gloom of the countinghouse to Scrooge's ghostly awakening to the joys of Christmas Present, Kristy Jones' nostalgic full-color art brings the classic Dickensian characters to life. Large format edition.

An adaptation of the classic Christmas story featuring animals as the main characters.

Synopsis

A lovely version of Dickens' classic Xmas tale complemented by the long-lost engravings done by French illustrator Doré for this story. 176 pages. A FIRST EDITION, First Printing in this format from 1996 (First, thus), this hardcover book has beige cloth-covered boards with gilt lettering to spine.

About the Author, Charles Dickens, Gustave Dore

Charles Dickens

Charles Dickens is probably the greatest novelist England ever produced. His innate comic genius and shrewd depictions of Victorian life -- along with his memorable characters -- have made him beloved by readers the world over. In Dickens' books live some of the most repugnant villains in literature, as well as some of the most likeable (and unlikely) heroes.

Biography

Born on February 7, 1812, Charles Dickens was the second of eight children in a family burdened with financial troubles. Despite difficult early years, he became the most successful British writer of the Victorian age.

In 1824, young Charles was withdrawn from school and forced to work at a boot-blacking factory when his improvident father, accompanied by his mother and siblings, was sentenced to three months in a debtor's prison. Once they were released, Charles attended a private school for three years. The young man then became a solicitor's clerk, mastered shorthand, and before long was employed as a Parliamentary reporter. When he was in his early twenties, Dickens began to publish stories and sketches of London life in a variety of periodicals.

It was the publication of Pickwick Papers (1836-1837) that catapulted the twenty-five-year-old author to national renown. Dickens wrote with unequaled speed and often worked on several novels at a time, publishing them first in monthly installments and then as books. His early novels Oliver Twist (1837-1838), Nicholas Nickleby (1838-1839), The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-1841), and A Christmas Carol (1843) solidified his enormous, ongoing popularity. As Dickens matured, his social criticism became increasingly biting, his humor dark, and his view of poverty darker still. David Copperfield (1849-1850), Bleak House (1852-1853), Hard Times (1854), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1860-1861), and Our Mutual Friend (1864-1865) are the great works of his masterful and prolific period.

In 1858 Dickens's twenty-three-year marriage to Catherine Hogarth dissolved when he fell in love with Ellen Ternan, a young actress. The last years of his life were filled with intense activity: writing, managing amateur theatricals, and undertaking several reading tours that reinforced the public's favorable view of his work but took an enormous toll on his health. Working feverishly to the last, Dickens collapsed and died on June 8, 1870, leaving The Mystery of Edwin Drood uncompleted.

Author biography from the Barnes & Noble Classics edition of David Copperfield.

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Editorials

Library Journal

This profusely illustrated edition of Dickens's yuletide ghost story features 45 engravings by Gustave Dor, who was the first artist to illustrate Tiny Tim and the Cratchit family. This additionally sports 130 other Victorian illustrations.

Booknews

Thirty-two proceedings papers addressing international concerns over the poor environmental quality of coastal regions due to pollution and other problems, presenting sampling and rehabilitation techniques through reliable modeling and analysis tools. The contributors discuss topics in pollution management and decision analysis, hazard mitigation and risk analysis, drift and evolution in coastal regions and beaches, oil slicks and spills, pollutant transport and dispersion, atmospheric pollution and control, and hydrodynamics and pollutant transport modeling. Includes charts and illustrations. Lacks an index. Annotation c. Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)

Kay Weisman

Kennedy remains true to Dickens' tone and style in her picture-book-length adaptation of this holiday classic. By eliminating much of the original's redundancy and simplifying some of its arcane Victorian phrasing, the author has condensed this tale of a miser's discovery of the true meaning of Christmas into an easily understood 20-minute family read-aloud. Heyer's vibrant acrylic paintings add elegance to the presentation, and the use of a vertical red bar (suggesting period wallpaper or a fancy ribbon) on each page sets off the text and leaves the impression that this offering is a carefully wrapped package. For purists Roberto Innocenti's illustrated "Christmas Carol" (1990) may be the edition of choice, but libraries with requests for shorter versions (that do not rely on animals or cartoon characters to relay the story) will find this a good alternative.

Sally Estes

Blake's familiar scraggly cartoon-type illustrations done in line and watercolor lend their own decided sense of character and wit to Dickens' classic Christmas tale. Whether of a dour Scrooge crouched over piles of coins, the suffering specter of Jacob Marley rattling his chains, or the ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future, the pictures are a perfect match for the story. A good selection for collections wanting another version.