The day Charles Dickens changed Christmas

London, 14 December 1843 The morning dawned full of promise for Charles John Dickens. At the ripe old age of 31, he was making his first foray into the ghastly, but potentially lucrative world of self-publishing. He was excited, even celebratory over his new work which today would finally be born and hopefully net him the princely sum of 1,000 pounds sterling. He hastened across the Strand, one of the busiest streets in London, on his way to the print shop of Edward Chapman and William Hall. Preliminary proof copies of his five stave novella A Christmas Carol, awaited his inspection. Once he gave his blessing, the print run of 6,000 copies he was financing out of what little funds remained to his name would proceed forthwith. Time was running short for the printing and binding to be completed in time for holiday readers and perhaps more importantly, holiday purchasers. Though Charles longed for financial success, it was the content of his new manuscript that most raised his spirits. He had spent six weeks weeping, laughing and weeping yet again as he scribbled the story out on sixty-eight pages of his leather notebook using black India ink and a fresh quill. At night he took long walks through the darkest streets of London, setting the scenes of the story in his head. The tale flowed from his mind to his hand quickly and he found himself making only a few scratched out corrections. He had no outline and produced only one draft before handing the handwritten notebook over to be set into lead type. Charles burned with outrage against the rich men he had seen in Manchester and London over the past few months. He thoroughly despised these “sleek, slobbering, bow-paunched, overfed, apoplectic snorting cattle” who built their wealth on the backs of child labourers, and the starvation of families who powered, but did not share in the wealth of Britain’s post industrial prosperity. The sight of families starving in the streets of Manchester and in the slums of London was something he could not easily vanquish from his thoughts. His anger spilled nightly onto the pages of his notebook as he completed the story. He had no outline for the story that filled his head and produced only one draft He hoped his simple tale of one old man’s conversion from greed to generosity and from covetousness to compassion, might strike a “sledgehammer blow” on behalf of the poor with “twenty-thousand times the force” of any government pamphlet. He promised this to his old friend Douglas Jerrold, and today it he hoped it might become reality. Despite his honourable intentions, Charles needed to see a profit, quickly. His very pregnant wife Catherine was doing her heroic best to look after three young children with another due within a month. He knew it was not easy for her as they weathered the feast or famine income cycle he realized as an author. This morning he hurried past the poulterer and the fruiterer overflowing with treasures he could only dream about. He was in debt. His bank account overdrawn and Christmas might prove a very hungry time if this new publishing venture floundered. As he reached the shop, Charles grew anxious to see the first copies of his little book. His orders to Chapman and Hall had been precise: fancy binding stamped in gold letters on both spine and front cover, gilded edge on the paper all around, four full-page hand-coloured etchings and four woodcuts, all by drawn by his good friend John Leech. And of course half-title and title pages in bright green and red and hand coloured green endpapers to match. The weather that morning was unusually warm for London in December, well above freezing, and almost balmy. Perhaps it was an omen that a book set on a cold Christmas Eve might fail to live up to his lofty expectations. “Gads!” he exclaimed with alarm as he surveyed the drab title page. It had turned out as a dull olive colour. The shop’s proprietors, William and Edward watched sternly, but said nothing, as he continued his inspection. They had expressed no faith in this project, but since Charles was paying, he could do as he pleased. “No, no,” Charles said as he flipped the pages, reading passages and shaking his head and finally thumbing all the way though to the book. “This will certainly not suffice,” he added, growing more alarmed as touched the end pages and noticed that the green tint smudged and dusted off on his fingers. Finally, he put the book down, glanced up at the sooty ceiling of the print shop and released a deep sigh that been building up inside. “Gentlemen, although I appreciate your efforts, we have much work to do,” he began. “We will start with the cover page which I would prefer to see in red and blue. And I also noticed some text that needs to be reset, and the green endpapers are chalky. Can we change that to yellow?” William Hall raised an eyebrows at his business partner Edward sitting on a stool. Then turned to Charles. “And those colour plates? Are you certain they add sufficient value to justify such expense? Four plates add significant cost.” Charles snorted with indignation. “As you are forcing me to pay all the costs, I’m unclear as to what motivates your concern? Of course we will keep the four plates, exactly as Leech sketched them.” Edward Chapman finished an entry on his ledger. Without looking up, still holding his quill he asked. “And what price do you propose we charge? From what I calculate - printing, paper, drawings, engravings, steel plates, paper for plates, colouring, binding, incidentals, advertising and our fee - ten shillings should cover all your costs and net your a tidy profit.” “No, sir, I think not,” Charles responded. “I promised Catherine a beautiful little gift book. A book that would open hearts to make the world richer for those who have nothing. I do not want a price that impedes a wide readership.” Edward climbed off his stool and took a stride towards Charles. His displeasure was evident. “Sir, while you may be in the business of running a charity, we are men of business. It is not our mission to change the world.” Charles smiled. “Five shillings, Edward. That is the price you shall charge for my little book. You will be paid, I assure you. And You will regret your lack of faith in me and your narrow focus will not serve you well in Christmas' yet to come.” William held a hand up. “Charles, you are paying all the costs so we shan’t argue further. Give us your alterations to the text. We will have them have them set and make the other changes you request. But I must ask, you again. Are you certain of a run of 6,000 copies? It seems overly optimistic.” Charles had faith in his story, though he doubted his business acumen. However, he had told Catherine he would print six thousand copies and that is what he intended to do. “Yes, sir, six thousand. And you shall be sold out by Christmas Eve!” And the numbers are in… Charles Dickens was right. Indeed all 6,000 copies of that first printing of A Christmas Carol sold out by Christmas Eve of 1843. Today, an original copy from that run is worth at least $25,000 USD with some fetching copies in good condition fetching as much as $35,000 USD. Dickens’ ‘beautiful’ little book has never been out of print. In the first six months of 1844 it was reprinted at least least eight times. By the end of the year it had also been adapted for the stage with eight productions playing in London. But despite the success, Charles goal of netting £1000 pounds from the first run fell well short. Because he insisted on colour plates, elaborate finishes and stood firm on a price of only 5 shillings, his payment for the first printing was a meager £230. Even after the one year, he realized only £744 in profit. Print was only the beginning Of course A Christmas Carol eventually became a film, with the first version produced in 1901, and others following in 1908, 1910, 1913 and every few years afterwards. The most watched version remains the 1951 black and white classic with Alastair Sim as Scrooge. Other versions and adaptations continued with everything from the Muppets to the Flinstones and Bill Murray’s 1988 comedic transgression Scrooged and many more over the last 30 years since. From Broadway shows, to stage plays, mimes, radio plays, TV and film versions, A Christmas Carol and its themes, characters and expressions are now rooted deeply in Western culture and our celebration of Christmas. As for Charles Dickens’ self-publishing career, it was a bust. He did switch to Bradbury and Evans, publishing rivals of Chapman and Hall who had so little faith in him. And he left the world of self-publishing to concentrate on creating some of the best loved books of the English language. Interesting though, A Christmas Carol remains his most popular work and every Christmas we have the chance to relive Charles’ inspiration one more time.