Published inDecember 1843,A Christmas CaroltookCharles Dickensjust six week to write , during which sentence he write intensely and fanatically , only discontinue to take occasionallong walk through Londonin the other hours of the morning to authorise his head . Less than two weeks after he complete it , the ms went to photographic print ; by Christmas Eve , the first 6000 copies had sell out .
Despite the former succeeder , the publication ofA Christmas Carolwas far from bland . After falling out with his publishing company , Dickens funded the photographic print himself to ensure all profits were his , but his insistence on top - timbre paper and an expensive leather binding mean that the total cost of production was eye - wateringly high . From the initial 6000 sales , he made aprofit of just £ 230(around £ 29,885 , or $ 39,560 today ) , having expected to garner tight to about four to five time that amount . Worsening his financial woes , the Holy Scripture waspirated by a rival publishernamed Parley ’s Illuminated Library two months subsequently . Dickens sued , but in response Parley ’s simply adjudge themselves bankrupt , leaving him to bear his own sound costs , which add up to £ 700 ( around £ 90,953/$120,376 today ) .
It may have had a bumpy start , butA Christmas Carolsoon established itself as one of Dickens ’ most popular books , both with lecturer and its writer alike . In fact , Dickens choseA Christmas Carolfor hisfinal public readingon March 15 , 1870 , just three months before his death . But what had inspired Dickens to drop a line it in the first place ?
1. A Charity Fundraiser
On October 5 , 1843,Dickens spoke at a fundraising eventat the Manchester Athenaeum , a local society engaged in promote education in the urban center . At the time , Manchester was renowned across the macrocosm as one of the most of import hubs of the Industrial Revolution , but its sudden growth had been at great social disbursement , and it ’s believed that the strict utilitarian rules and poor wage imposed by factory owners on the city ’s workers inspired Ebenezer Scrooge ’s own want of Jacob’s ladder and empathy — as he excellently state , “ Are there no prison ? … And the Union workhouses ? Are they still in operation ? ”
2. The Town of Malton, North Yorkshire
Not long before beginning employment onA Christmas Carol , Dickensvacationedin the town of Malton in Yorkshire . The townis say to have inspired a number of detail in the Bible , include its numerous recurring references to Christian church bell , which Dickens is consider to have mock up on the bells of Malton ’s St. Leonard & St. Mary Catholic Church . In 2012,the Ithiel Town purchased a sign copyofA Christmas Carolfrom a gatherer in New York .
3. Charles Smithson
While in Malton , Dickens stayed with a friend named Charles Smithson , who work as a solicitor there from offices onChancery Lane — which is believed to have inspired Dickens ’ verbal description of Scrooge ’s own counting - house . The two Charleses had metmore than a tenner earlierwhile Smithson was working at the London office of his category ’s firm , when a friend of Dickens — for whom he was dissemble as guarantor — bought into the business . The twosome stay nigh Friend for the rest of their animation , even after Smithson returned home from London to Yorkshire .
4. “The Story of the Goblins Who Stole a Sexton”
Dickens often had the character in his novels state their own chronicle and parable , and his debut novelThe Pickwick Paperswas no exclusion . In it , Mr. Wardlerecounts a talecalled “ The Story of the Goblins Who steal A Sexton ” about “ an ill - qualify , transverse - grain , surly companion ” named Gabriel Grub , who is visited by goblins on Christmas Eve who attempt to convince him to change his ways by present him images of the past times and hereafter . Sound conversant … ?
5. “How Mr. Chokepear Keeps a Merry Christmas”
“ The Goblins Who Stole A Sexton ” might not have been the only narrative Dickens take his inspiration from . Two year in the first place , in December 1841,a short storycalled “ How Mr. Chokepear keep A Merry Christmas ” appeared in the British satirical magazinePunch . Written by Douglas Jerrold , the story recounted in detail a Christmas Day celebrated by a man of affairs named Tobias Chokepear : He begins by get breakfast with his home , then attends Christian church and bask a lavish Christmas lunch before “ cards , grab - dragons , quadrille , country - dances , with a hundred twist to make people rust and pledge , send night into dawning . ” But despite plainly hold a very merry Christmas , the story concludes by bring up that a man Tobias had add money to is now in a debtor ’ prison house ; that one of Tobias ’s daughters is abstracted from the Christmas fiesta , as she has been shunned by the family for marrying beneath her ; and that while the Chokepear family celebrates within , crowds of “ throb wretches ” straits by their door . Although the uncharitable Mr. Chokepear does n’t end up having the same Christmas epiphany as Scrooge , it ’s potential that Jerrold ’s moralistic tarradiddle had at least some influence on Dickens , not least because the two were well acquainted — when Jerrold died in 1857 , Dickensserved as a pallbearerat his funeral , and go bad on to donate the net income from one of his own short stories to his widow .
6. Washington Irving’sSketch Book
Washington Irving’sSketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon , Gent . , a collection of essay and short fib , was published more than 20 years beforeA ChristmasCarolin 1819 . Although its most famous account by far is " The Legend of Sleepy Hollow , " theSketch Bookalso contains a number of gay tales and dissertations presenting an idealised image of Christmas , with gifts , decorations , songs , dances , game , and lavish spreads of food and drink . Irving partly based these descriptions on his experience quell at Aston Hall , a courtly Jacobean homeon the outskirts of Birmingham , England . It ’s believed that those descriptions , in turning , greatly determine Dickens ’ piece of writing — in 1841 , two years before he publishedA Christmas Carol , Dickens ( who was just 8 whenSketch Bookwas published)wrote to Irving , “ I wish to travel with you … down to Bracebridge Hall . ”
7. John Elwes MP
For Scrooge ’s miserly character , Dickens is believed to have turned to an infamously centime - pinching eighteenth one C politician namedJohn Elwes .
pay in London in 1714 , Elwes inherit a circumstances when his beginner go bad just four years later , and when his mother ( who was so frugal that despite being wealthy she was said to have starved herself to decease ) died concisely after that , the entire Elwes estate of the realm — worth around £ 100,000 — pass to him . Then again in 1763 , Elwes ’s entitled uncle Sir Harvey Elwes also die , and his even large estate — worth more than £ 250,000 — also pass to him .
He might have been staggeringly affluent , but Elwes began pride himself on spending as little as potential . Despite being elect to fantan in 1772 , he patently dressed in rags , and often looked so ratty that he was mistaken for a beggar and handed money in the street . He only visited doctors when call for , and once after deeply gashing both his legs , he only paid the doctor to treat one — and wagered the doctor ’s bill that the untreated wooden leg would heal faster ( he make headway by a fortnight ) . He let his huge house become ruins through lack of repair ; would go to bed as soon as the sun gear up to make unnecessary buying standard candle ; and would even eat shape nutrient to save buying refreshing ( including once feed a numb moorhen pulled from a river by a rat — although that one is probably just an urban fable ) . Through all of his cent - pinching ways , Elwes will an estate deserving at least £ 500,000 to his two sons when he croak in 1789 , having earned himself the cognomen “ Elwes the Miser . ”
After his dying , Edward Topham indite a very popular life story of Elwes that go away through 12 edition over the next several years . But Topham had his own reason for writing Elwes ' narrative ; to him , Elwes represented “ the utter dressing table of idle wealthiness . ”
BONUS: One Person Who was Likely Not an Influence—Ebenezer Lennox Scroggie
harmonize to legend , on a sojourn to Edinburgh in 1841 , Dickens contain a walk around the metropolis ’s Canongate churchyard and there happen to notice a gravestone hold the uncomplimentary dedication , “ EBENEZER LENNOX SCROGGIE — MEAN MAN.”Dickens later wrotethat it must have “ shrivel up ” Mr. Scroggie ’s soul to take “ such a terrible matter to timeless existence , ” but it was nevertheless all the inspiration he needed to create the mean character of Ebenezer Scrooge . Except that Dickens had misread the inscription . Born in Kirkaldy in 1792 , Ebenezer Scroggie was actually a “ meal man , ” or Indian corn merchandiser .
Here ’s the problem with this tale : That ’s belike all it is . A representative from the Edinburgh Civic Trust toldUncle John ’s amply laden Bathroom Readerthat it was an " interesting tale , but not needfully free-base in fact … [ T]here is no evidence of an Ebenezer Scroggie as a merchant in the post government agency directory for the full point , the grave accent conveniently no longer exist and there is no parish entombment platter . I ’ve also yet to see where the direct quote from Dickens comes from . "
So where did the myth add up from ? " I find myself complicit in a likely Dickens hoax , " Rowan Pellingwrote inThe Telegraphin 2012 :
To find out more about the Christmas storiesCharles Dickenspublished afterA Christmas Carol , headhere .
A version of this story ran in 2015 ; it has been update for 2021 .
