Ebenezer Scrooge with poulterer's man (1924). Harold Copping's line-drawings for Mary Angela Dickens's Children's Stories from Dickens, p. 54. 4 ⅛ by 4 ¼ inches (10.7 x 11 cm). [Click on image to enlarge it.] Scrooge takes great care in surprising the Cratchits with a turkey larger than Tiny Tim, his first act of atonement for his callous treatment of his faithful, grossly underpaid clerk.
Passage Illustrated: Scrooge orders a cab for the delivery man!
"Why, I am as light as a feather, and as happy as an angel, and as merry as a schoolboy," he said to himself. "A merry Christmas to everybody! A happy New Year to all the world." And a few minutes later he was ordering a turkey to be taken round to Tiny Tim's house, a turkey so large that the man who took it had to go in a cab. ["Tiny Tim" in Children's Stories from Dickens, 53]
Similar Illustrations of a Socially Reintegrated Scrooge in Other Editions
Left: Arthur Rackham's With the Pudding (1915). Centre: E. A. Abbey's "It's I. Your Uncle Scrooge. . . . ." ("Stave Five," American Household Edition, 1876). Right: Charles Green's version of Scrooge's ordering a splendid present for the Cratchits: Christmas Morning: "Do you know whether they've sold the prize Turkey that was hanging up there?" (1912).[Click on the images to enlarge them.]
Left: Leech's tailpiece of Scrooge and his employee sharing punch, Scrooge and Bob Cratchit, or The Christmas Bowl. Right: Eytinge's attempt to capture the reformed Scrooge's child-like ebullience, "Scrooge Awakes," vignette for "Stave 5. The End of It".
Illustrations for A Christmas Carol (1843-1915)
- John Leech's original 1843 series of eight engravings for Dickens's A Christmas Carol
- Sol Eytinge, Junior's 1867-68 illustrations for two Ticknor & Fields editions for Dickens's A Christmas Carol
- E. A. Abbey's 1876 illustrations for The American Household Edition of Dickens's Christmas Books
- Fred Barnard's 1878 illustrations for The Household Edition of Dickens's Christmas Books
- Charles E. Brock's 1905 illustrations for A Christmas Carol and The Chimes
- A. A. Dixon's 1906 Collins Pocket Edition for Dickens's Christmas Books
- Harry Furniss's 1910 Charles Dickens Library Edition of Dickens's Christmas Books
- A selection of Arthur Rackham's 1915 illustrations for Dickens's A Christmas Carol
Scanned image and text by Philip V. Allingham. [You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the photographer and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. Illustrated by Charles Green, R. I. London: A & F Pears, 1912.
Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being A Ghost Story for Christmas. Illustrated by John Leech. London: Chapman & Hall, 1843.
Dickens, Charles. A Christmas Carol. Illustrated by Harold Copping. London, Paris, and New York: Raphael Tuck, 1912.
Dickens, Mary Angela, Percy Fitzgerald, Captain Edric Vredenburg, and Others. Illustrated by Harold Copping with eleven coloured lithographs. Children's Stories from Dickens. London: Raphael Tuck, 1893.
Dickens, Mary Angela [Charles Dickens' grand-daughter]. Dickens' Dream Children. London, Paris, New York: Raphael Tuck & Sons, Ltd., 1924.
Hearne, Michael Patrick, ed. The Annotated Christmas Carol. New York: Avenel, 1989.
Matz, B. W., and Kate Perugini; illustrated by Harold Copping. Character Sketches from Dickens. London: Raphael Tuck, 1924. Copy in the Paterson Library, Lakehead University, Thunder Bay, Ontario, Canada.
Slater, Michael. "Notes to A Christmas Carol. The Christmas Books. Harmondsworth: Penguin, 1971. Rpt. 1978. Pp. 257-261.
Simons, Paul, and Will Pavia. "Dreaming of a white Christmas? Put it down to Dickens's nostalgia for his lost childhood." The Times. 24 December 2008. Page 4.
Created 5 October 2023