The Annotated Christmas Carol: A Christmas Carol in Prose (The Annotated Books)

Charles Dickens, John Leech (Illustrator), Michael Patrick Hearn (Editor)

$29.95

Publication Date: November 17th, 2004

Publisher:

W. W. Norton & Company

ISBN:

9780393051582

Pages:

384

Description

Without question, The Annotated Christmas Carol is the most authoritative and entertaining edition of Dickens classic ever produced.

What would Christmas be without A Christmas Carol? Charles Dickens’s famous ghost story is as much a part of the season as plum pudding and mistletoe, and Michael Patrick Hearn, the celebrated annotator of The Wizard of Oz and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn, has prepared this sumptuous, thoroughly annotated edition, which has already become the definitive edition of our century. Initially published by Norton in 2004, this is the first edition to combine the original story with Dickens’s Public Reading text, published to coincide with his 1867-68 American tour, which has not been reprinted in nearly a century. Included are rare photographs as well as the original Leech wood engravings and hand-colored etchings, supplemented by other contemporary illustrations by George Cruikshank, Gustave Doré, John Tenniel, and “Phiz.” The Annotated Christmas Carol will be a literary feast for the whole family for generations.

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.

John Leech (1817-1864) was a well regarded English caricaturist, whose works often appeared in Punch and the London News. An accomplished lithographer and engraver, Leech's illustrations illuminated the original edition of Charles Dickens's A Christmas Carol.

Michael Patrick Hearn has written for the New York Times, The Nation, and many other publications. His books include From the Silver Age to Stalin: Russian Children's Book Illustration and The Porcelain Cat; he has edited The Victorian Fairy Tale Book, The Annotated Wizard of Oz, The Annotated Christmas Carol, and The Annotated Huckleberry Finn. Hearn lives in New York City.

Praise for The Annotated Christmas Carol: A Christmas Carol in Prose (The Annotated Books)

Such a delightful work... overflowing with good nature and good will towards the humblest and most friendless of our race.
— William Cullen Bryant

Who can listen to objections regarding such a book as this? It seems to me a national benefit, and to every man or woman who reads it, a personal kindness.
— William Makepeace Thackeray

Read with satisfaction; presented with satisfaction, and many Christmas wishes.
— Thomas Carlyle

I like and admire... the exquisite scenes about the clerk and Tiny [Tim]; I thank the writer in my heart of hearts for them.
— Elizabeth Barrett Browning

The story sings from end to end like a happy man going home.... It is lyric and exclamatory, from the first exclamatory words of it. It is strictly a Christmas Carol.
— G.K. Chesteron