Other editions of book A Christmas Carol

Ebenezer Scrooge, whose name is now synonymous with greed and parsimony, believes Christmas to be 'humbug'. Refusing to donate any of his fortune to the poor, he comforts himself by saying, 'I don't make merry myself at Christmas, and I can't afford to make idle people merry.' But then the ghost of his old partner, Jacob Marley, returns from the grave to haunt him. Dragging a long and heavy chain, representing his mant sins, Marley sends down the three spirits of Christmas Past, Present and Future to warn scrooge against a similar fate...

ENDURING LITERATURE ILLUMINATED BY PRACTICAL SCHOLARSHIP The best known and best loved of Dickens's tales, A Christmas Carol is the story of miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, who is shown the true spirit of Christmas by three ghosts. THIS ENRICHED CLASSIC EDITION INCLUDES: • An introduction that gives readers important background information • Detailed explanatory notes • Critical analysis, including contemporary and modern perspectives on the work Enriched Classics offer readers affordable editions of great works of literature enhanced by helpful notes and insightful commentary. The scholarship provided in Enriched Classics enables readers to appreciate, understand, and enjoy the world's finest books to their full potential.

A Christmas Carol in Prose, Being a Ghost-Story of Christmas, commonly known as A Christmas Carol, is a novella by Charles Dickens, first published in London by Chapman & Hall on 19 December 1843. The novella met with instant success and critical acclaim. A Christmas Carol tells the story of a bitter old miser named Ebenezer Scrooge and his transformation into a gentler, kindlier man after visitations by the ghost of his former business partner Jacob Marley and the Ghosts of Christmas Past, Present and Yet to Come.

STAVE ONE MARLEY'S GHOST Marley was dead, to begin with. There is no doubt whatever about that. The register of his burial was signed by the clergyman, the clerk, the undertaker, and the chief mourner. Scrooge signed it. And Scrooge's name was good upon 'Change for anything he chose to put his hand to. Old Marley was as dead as a door-nail. Mind! I don't mean to say that I know, of my own knowledge, what there is particularly dead about a door-nail. I might have been inclined, myself, to regard a coffin-nail as the deadest piece of ironmongery in the trade. But the wisdom of our ancestors is in the simile; and my unhallowed hands shall not disturb it, or the Country's done for. You will, therefore, permit me to repeat, emphatically, that Marley was as dead as a door-nail. Scrooge knew he was dead? Of course he did. How could it be otherwise? Scrooge and he were partners for I don't know how many years. Scrooge was his sole executor, his sole[12] administrator, his sole assign, his sole residuary legatee, his sole friend, and sole mourner. And even Scrooge was not so dreadfully cut up by the sad event, but that he was an excellent man of business on the very day of the funeral, and solemnised it with an undoubted bargain. The mention of Marley's funeral brings me back to the point I started from. There is no doubt that Marley was dead. This must be distinctly understood, or nothing wonderful can come of the story I am going to relate. If we were not perfectly convinced that Hamlet's Father died before the play began, there would be nothing more remarkable in his taking a stroll at night, in an easterly wind, upon his own ramparts, than there would be in any other middle-aged gentleman rashly turning out after dark in a breezy spot—say St. Paul's Church-yard, for instance—literally to astonish his son's weak mind. Scrooge never painted out Old Marley's name. There it stood, years afterwards, above the warehouse door: Scrooge and Marley. The firm was known as Scrooge and Marley. Sometimes people new to the business called Scrooge Scrooge, and sometimes Marley, but he answered to both names. It was all the same to him. Oh! but he was a tight-fisted hand at the grindstone, Scrooge! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dog-days; and didn't thaw it one degree at Christmas. External heat and cold had little influence on Scrooge. No[13] warmth could warm, no wintry weather chill him. No wind that blew was bitterer than he, no falling snow was more intent upon its purpose, no pelting rain less open to entreaty. Foul ...

[Library Edition Audio CD in Vinyl case] This is an *ABRIDGED* reading of A Christmas Carol. It is read by Paul Scofield and it is part of the 'Classics Read by Celebrities' audiobook series. ''Every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding,'' says Scrooge. Mean old Scrooge despises Christmas . . . until Christmas Eve, when a haunted voice from the past changes his life - - overnight!

The warm nostalgic spirit of the holidays shines in this deluxe holiday gift edition. A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens is a perennial family classic populated by such unforgettable characters as Ebenezer Scrooge, Tiny Tim, Bob Cratchit, and the Three Spirits of Christmas -- beginning with a "Bah! Humbug!" and culminating in an ultimate discovery of grace and good cheer. And so, as Tiny Tim observed, God bless Us, Every One!

Audio Book on CD; Featuring STEVE COOK! About the Title: Scrooge was a tight-fisted hand at the grind-stone! a squeezing, wrenching, grasping, scraping, clutching, covetous, old sinner! Hard and sharp as flint, from which no steel had ever struck out generous fire; secret, and self-contained, and solitary as an oyster. The cold within him froze his old features, nipped his pointed nose, shrivelled his cheek, stiffened his gait; made his eyes red, his thin lips blue; and spoke out shrewdly in his grating voice. A frosty rime was on his head, and on his eyebrows, and his wiry chin. He carried his own low temperature always about with him; he iced his office in the dogdays; and didn t thaw it one degree at Christmas. Bah! Humbug! Ebenezer Scrooge s dismissal of Christmas cheer is one of literature s most recognized phrases. Scrooge s cold and hardened heart serves as the battleground for Dickens powerful tale of repentance. When Scrooge emerges from his Christmas Eve visits by three ghosts Christmas Past, Christmas Present, and Christmas Yet to Come as a changed man, readers and listeners alike cannot help but be moved by his miraculous conversion. Voice actor Steve Cook brings this beloved short story to life with sound effects, music, and a host of voices and accents. This new presentation of a timeless classic provides perfect family listening, both in the living room and in the car. Start a new tradition this year by inviting Ebenezer Scrooge to be a part of your Christmas celebration. Bonus: MP3 versions of each chapter are included on Disc 1

This is an *ABRIDGED* reading of A Christmas Carol. It is read by Paul Scofield and it is part of the 'Classics Read by Celebrities' audiobook series. ''Every idiot who goes about with 'Merry Christmas' on his lips should be boiled with his own pudding,'' says Scrooge. Mean old Scrooge despises Christmas . . . until Christmas Eve, when a haunted voice from the past changes his life - - overnight!