This week The Huffington Post recounted the true, but little known, story of the inspiration behind Charles Dickens’ iconic holiday tale A Christmas Carol. Though the British author had already published several novels, he was struggling to make ends meet in the fall of 1843. During an evening constitutional through a seedy London neighborhood, Dickens was reminded of his own hardscrabble childhood, and was struck with the inspiration to write a cheerful, uplifting Christmas story for all those who had felt the harsh sting of poverty.

With the holidays quickly approaching, he decided on a short story format, and gave the publisher very detailed instructions on the book design, specifying a gold stamped cover, a green and red title page and several etched illustrations. Despite the high production values, the book was reasonably priced at five shillings, so that it would be affordable to a large segment of the population. Read more…