Cantitate/Preț
Produs

A Christmas Carol: and Other Christmas Stories: Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection

Autor Charles Dickens Editat de Robert Douglas-Fairhurst
en Limba Engleză Hardback – 27 sep 2018
'What was merry Christmas to Scrooge? Out upon merry Christmas! What good had it ever done to him?'Ebenezer Scrooge is a bad-tempered skinflint who hates Christmas and all it stands for, but a ghostly visitor foretells three apparitions who will thaw Scrooge's frozen heart. A Christmas Carol has gripped the public imagination since it was first published in 1843, and it is now as much a part of Christmas as mistletoe or plum pudding. This edition reprints the story alongside Dickens's four other Christmas Books: The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, and The Haunted Man. All five stories show Dickens at his unpredictable best, jumbling together comedy and melodrama, genial romance and urgent social satire, in pursuit of his aim 'to awaken some loving and forbearing thoughts, never out of season in a Christian land'.
Citește tot Restrânge

Toate formatele și edițiile

Toate formatele și edițiile Preț Express
Paperback (187) 1918 lei  3-5 săpt. +334 lei  7-13 zile
  Harper Collins Publishers – iul 2013 1918 lei  3-5 săpt. +334 lei  7-13 zile
  WORDSWORTH EDITIONS LTD – 15 ian 2018 2540 lei  3-5 săpt. +370 lei  7-13 zile
  Dover Publications – 31 mai 1991 2580 lei  3-4 săpt. +826 lei  7-13 zile
  Bantam Classics – 31 oct 1986 3109 lei  3-5 săpt. +3100 lei  7-13 zile
  Simon&Schuster – 9 oct 2007 3150 lei  3-5 săpt. +1138 lei  7-13 zile
  e-artnow – 14 dec 2020 3165 lei  3-5 săpt.
  West Margin Press – 8 iul 2020 3273 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Hachette Children's – 17 noi 2020 3355 lei  3-5 săpt. +1640 lei  7-13 zile
  ALADDIN PAPERBACKS – oct 2004 3355 lei  3-5 săpt.
  3646 lei  3-5 săpt.
  VINTAGE BOOKS – 5 sep 2012 3649 lei  26-32 zile +1215 lei  7-13 zile
  3687 lei  3-5 săpt.
  SCHOLASTIC LTD – 6 noi 2013 3786 lei  3-5 săpt. +466 lei  7-13 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 3943 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 10 ian 2013 3966 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 3975 lei  3-5 săpt.
  4013 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 4025 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Reclam Philipp Jun. – 1995 4030 lei  17-23 zile +374 lei  7-13 zile
  www.bnpublishing.com – 8 noi 2009 4056 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 4130 lei  3-5 săpt.
  4136 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Penguin Random House Children's UK – 24 sep 2014 4182 lei  26-32 zile +2752 lei  7-13 zile
  Parthenon Books – 4 noi 2015 4188 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 4251 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Penguin Random House Children's UK – 6 aug 2008 4304 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 4398 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Random House – 4 noi 2009 4405 lei  26-32 zile +1782 lei  7-13 zile
  Co-Published with Ws Education (Children's) – 6 ian 2023 4456 lei  3-5 săpt. +674 lei  7-13 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 30 sep 2009 4583 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 4587 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 4623 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 31 oct 2010 4631 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 31 oct 2009 4635 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 4641 lei  3-5 săpt.
  4659 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Mudborn Press – 4722 lei  3-5 săpt.
  4763 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 4770 lei  3-5 săpt.
  EMPIRE BOOKS – 31 oct 2011 4868 lei  3-5 săpt.
  FABER & FABER – 6 oct 2020 4901 lei  3-5 săpt. +734 lei  7-13 zile
  4932 lei  3-5 săpt.
  4943 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 4950 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 4950 lei  3-5 săpt.
  4968 lei  3-5 săpt.
  HarperCollins Publishers – 26 sep 2024 4979 lei  3-5 săpt. +362 lei  7-13 zile
  4984 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Penguin Books – 28 noi 2012 4985 lei  3-5 săpt. +383 lei  7-13 zile
  Penguin Books – 3 oct 2024 5014 lei  3-5 săpt. +485 lei  7-13 zile
  Scholastic – 5 ian 2023 5045 lei  3-5 săpt. +602 lei  7-13 zile
  5120 lei  3-5 săpt.
  5169 lei  3-5 săpt.
  5169 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 5238 lei  3-5 săpt.
  5298 lei  3-5 săpt.
  VertVolta Press – 19 dec 2018 5421 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 5425 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 5455 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Paraclete Press (MA) – 27 noi 2016 5462 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 5519 lei  3-5 săpt.
  5519 lei  3-5 săpt.
  5523 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Firestone Books – 10 noi 2019 5527 lei  3-5 săpt. +938 lei  7-13 zile
  Firestone Books – 10 feb 2021 5561 lei  3-5 săpt. +1061 lei  7-13 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 5585 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Oxford University Press, USA – 4 noi 2024 5624 lei  3-5 săpt.
  5642 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 5707 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 5804 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 5810 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Klett Sprachen GmbH – 21 sep 2009 5882 lei  17-23 zile +547 lei  7-13 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 5892 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Harper Collins, UK – 7 sep 2017 5962 lei  3-5 săpt. +1711 lei  7-13 zile
  CREATESPACE – 6060 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 6071 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 31 aug 2009 6130 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Owl's Nest Publishers, LLC – 27 noi 2023 6204 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Firestone Books – 15 noi 2018 6290 lei  3-5 săpt. +976 lei  7-13 zile
  6379 lei  3-5 săpt.
  6379 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 6524 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 6549 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CANTERBURY CLASSICS – 23 sep 2013 6607 lei  27-39 zile +6251 lei  7-13 zile
  Queensbridge Publishing – 14 noi 2012 6705 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 6809 lei  3-5 săpt.
  6883 lei  3-5 săpt.
  VINTAGE BOOKS – 30 noi 2011 7096 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Bottom of the Hill Publishing – 31 iul 2010 7177 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7340 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 7411 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Classical Comics – 12 oct 2008 7868 lei  3-5 săpt. +1984 lei  7-13 zile
  Classical Comics – 12 oct 2008 7915 lei  3-5 săpt. +2158 lei  7-13 zile
  Storybound, LLC – 13 oct 2020 8019 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 8193 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 8319 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Baker & Taylor Publisher Services – 10 dec 2024 8369 lei  3-5 săpt. +1628 lei  7-13 zile
  NICK HERN BOOKS – 31 mar 2008 8543 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 8688 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Speaking Tiger Books – 10 dec 2019 8717 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Dover Publications – 30 iun 2006 9011 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Klett Sprachen GmbH – 8 feb 2023 9083 lei  17-23 zile +843 lei  7-13 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 9140 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 9330 lei  3-5 săpt.
  10182 lei  3-5 săpt.
  The Faceless Syndicate – 11 noi 2024 10328 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Tyndale House Publishers – 4 oct 2021 10742 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Classical Comics – 24 noi 2008 10744 lei  3-5 săpt.
  12254 lei  3-5 săpt.
  fabula Verlag Hamburg – 19 noi 2014 14779 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Maurice Bassett – 12 dec 2013 15944 lei  3-5 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 16550 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Value Classic Reprints – 2 noi 2016 2661 lei  38-44 zile
  Chump Change – 27 aug 2018 3333 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Finisterra Books – 24 dec 2011 3385 lei  6-8 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 4069 lei  6-8 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 4398 lei  6-8 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 4780 lei  6-8 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 4824 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Clearlight – 10 aug 2013 4835 lei  6-8 săpt.
  5051 lei  6-8 săpt.
  5347 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Spunky Fantasy Services – 3 sep 2020 5363 lei  6-8 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 29 noi 2015 5388 lei  6-8 săpt.
  5388 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Digireads.com – 31 dec 2004 5405 lei  38-44 zile
  Tole Publishing – 31 iul 2020 5499 lei  6-8 săpt.
  5595 lei  6-8 săpt.
  5752 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Birch Tree Publishing – 23 mai 2013 5853 lei  6-8 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 5907 lei  6-8 săpt.
  SC Active Business Development SRL – 9 oct 2016 5967 lei  38-44 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 5981 lei  6-8 săpt.
  6033 lei  6-8 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 6074 lei  6-8 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 30 sep 2010 6137 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Serenity Publishers, LLC – 30 sep 2008 6161 lei  6-8 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 6219 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Suzeteo Enterprises – 12 sep 2016 6416 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Bloomsbury Publishing – 11 ian 2004 6588 lei  6-8 săpt.
  6752 lei  6-8 săpt.
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 6834 lei  6-8 săpt.
  EduGorilla Community Pvt. Ltd. – mai 2022 6989 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Akasha Classics – 29 mai 2008 7124 lei  6-8 săpt.
  1st World Publishing – 24 iul 2013 7177 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Small Town Press – 13 noi 2009 7241 lei  6-8 săpt.
  General Press – 31 dec 2016 7287 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Serenity Publishers, LLC – 24 noi 2011 7342 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Public Park Publishing – 3 ian 2020 7414 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Public Public Books – 10 iun 2020 7431 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Barclays Public Books – 9 iun 2020 7431 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Yorkshire Public Books – 9 iun 2020 7431 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Susan Publishing Ltd – 10 iun 2020 7431 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Camel Publishing House – 9 iun 2020 7431 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Mary Publishing Company – 10 iun 2020 7431 lei  6-8 săpt.
  USA Public Domain Books – 11 iun 2020 7448 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Public Publishing – 11 iun 2020 7448 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Texas Public Domain – 11 iun 2020 7448 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Lector House – 10 iun 2019 7553 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Lector House – 10 iun 2019 7694 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Echo Library – 30 iun 2003 7707 lei  38-44 zile
  Firestone Books – 23 noi 2016 7792 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Waking Lion Press – 30 iun 2008 7964 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Broadway Play Publishing – 8030 lei  6-8 săpt.
  CREATESPACE – 26 sep 2013 8065 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Toronto Public Domain Publishing – 10 iun 2020 8226 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Suzeteo Enterprises – 17 oct 2016 8342 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Simon & Brown – 31 oct 2010 8391 lei  38-44 zile
  Bibliotech Press – 7 ian 2020 8408 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Norilana Books – 4 sep 2006 8412 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Binker North – 13 sep 2019 8551 lei  38-44 zile
  Prince Classics – 10 iun 2019 8865 lei  38-44 zile
  Throne Classics – 9 iul 2019 8865 lei  38-44 zile
  Hansebooks – 29 aug 2017 9819 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Echo Library – 31 mar 2006 9872 lei  38-44 zile
  LIGHTNING SOURCE INC – 19 oct 2018 9993 lei  17-23 zile
  CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform – 11325 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Notion Press – 4 iul 2022 12125 lei  38-44 zile
  Lulu.Com – 18 sep 2019 12159 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Lulu.Com – 11 iun 2018 12319 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Study Pubs LLC – 30 noi 2010 12545 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Study Pubs LLC – 30 noi 2010 12759 lei  6-8 săpt.
  TREDITION CLASSICS – 31 oct 2011 13089 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Samuel French Ltd – 3 dec 2015 13143 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Study Pubs LLC – 31 oct 2010 13286 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Alpha Editions – 30 sep 2017 18067 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Cambridge University Press – 2 ian 2013 26171 lei  6-8 săpt.
Hardback (39) 5290 lei  26-32 zile +1867 lei  7-13 zile
  Penguin Random House Children's UK – 4 oct 2017 5290 lei  26-32 zile +1867 lei  7-13 zile
  Arcturus Publishing – 15 oct 2018 5589 lei  20-31 zile +664 lei  999-0 zile
  WORDSWORTH EDITIONS LTD – 7 sep 2018 5710 lei  3-5 săpt. +798 lei  7-13 zile
  Flame Tree Publishing – 13 sep 2021 5813 lei  3-5 săpt. +1432 lei  7-13 zile
  Sterling Publishing – 31 oct 2009 6503 lei  3-5 săpt. +4262 lei  7-13 zile
  Hachette Children's Group – 12 oct 2023 6565 lei  3-5 săpt. +3605 lei  7-13 zile
  Penguin Random House Children's UK – 3 aug 2016 6753 lei  26-32 zile +2214 lei  7-13 zile
  Penguin Random House Children's UK – 4 sep 2019 6792 lei  26-32 zile +3501 lei  7-13 zile
  EVERYMAN – 5 oct 1994 7085 lei  26-32 zile +2770 lei  7-13 zile
  Penguin Books – 5 noi 2014 9424 lei  3-5 săpt. +979 lei  7-13 zile
  OUP OXFORD – 27 sep 2018 9530 lei  10-16 zile +4063 lei  7-13 zile
  NORTH SOUTH BOOKS – 14 sep 2021 10232 lei  3-4 săpt.
  Insel Verlag GmbH – 11 sep 2016 10357 lei  17-23 zile +898 lei  7-13 zile
  EVERYMAN – 25 sep 2009 11007 lei  3-5 săpt. +2303 lei  7-13 zile
  Everyman's Library – 31 aug 1994 11137 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Touchladybirdlucky Studios – 28 noi 2023 11443 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Dover Publications Inc. – 26 oct 2018 11713 lei  3-4 săpt.
  Touchladybirdlucky Studios – 17 dec 2018 11765 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Pearson Education – 15 oct 1992 12204 lei  3-5 săpt. +707 lei  7-13 zile
  chiltern publishing – 8 sep 2020 12495 lei  3-5 săpt. +1025 lei  7-13 zile
  Candlewick Press (MA) – 31 aug 2006 12882 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Abbeville Publishing Group – 29 oct 2024 13775 lei  3-5 săpt. +2405 lei  7-13 zile
  Bodleian Library, University of Oxford – 23 noi 2023 18232 lei  3-5 săpt. +2688 lei  7-13 zile
  Creative Editions – 14 sep 2015 22878 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Clearlight – 5 oct 2013 10193 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Chump Change – 27 aug 2018 10409 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Echo Library – 31 dec 2006 10578 lei  38-44 zile
  Public Park Publishing – 15 ian 2020 11593 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Binker North – 18 dec 1843 13089 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Suzeteo Enterprises – 12 sep 2016 13937 lei  6-8 săpt. +12233 lei  7-13 zile
  Akasha Classics – 29 mai 2008 14173 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Throne Classics – 9 iul 2019 14985 lei  38-44 zile
  General Press – aug 2019 15935 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Norilana Books – 3 sep 2006 16115 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Bibliotech Press – 7 ian 2020 16824 lei  6-8 săpt.
  ImTheStory – 28 oct 2015 16839 lei  38-44 zile
  1st World Publishing – 24 iul 2013 17160 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Suzeteo Enterprises – 12 sep 2016 17761 lei  6-8 săpt.
  Cambridge University Press – 2 ian 2013 42627 lei  6-8 săpt.
CD-Audio (1) 7014 lei  3-5 săpt.
  Simon & Schuster Audio – 30 sep 2006 7014 lei  3-5 săpt.

Din seria Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection

Preț: 9530 lei

Preț vechi: 11069 lei
-14% Nou

Puncte Express: 143

Preț estimativ în valută:
1824 1880$ 1540£

Carte disponibilă

Livrare economică 28 ianuarie-03 februarie
Livrare express 25-31 ianuarie pentru 5062 lei

Preluare comenzi: 021 569.72.76

Specificații

ISBN-13: 9780198822394
ISBN-10: 0198822391
Pagini: 496
Ilustrații: 20 black & white illustrations
Dimensiuni: 144 x 223 x 42 mm
Greutate: 0.61 kg
Editura: OUP OXFORD
Colecția OUP Oxford
Seria Oxford World's Classics Hardback Collection

Locul publicării:Oxford, United Kingdom

Recenzii

Another brilliant edition of the timeless classic.
A lovely new hardback edition from Oxford World's Classics. It's beautifully produced, with some of the original illustrations for each story, and is one of those volumes that is a physical pleasure to read... Id say it is perfect Christmas gift material for any Dickens fan, except Id never be willing to give my copy away!

Notă biografică

Robert Douglas-Fairhurst is the author of Becoming Dickens (Harvard UP, 2011), winner of the 2011 Duff Cooper Prize, and has edited editions of Dickens's Great Expectations, Henry Mayhew's London Labour and the London Poor, and Kingsley's The Water-Babies for Oxford World's Classics. He writes regularly for publications including the Daily Telegraph, The Guardian, TLS, and the New Statesman.

Textul de pe ultima copertă

In October 1843, Charles Dickens heavily in debt and obligated to his publisher began work on a book to help supplement his family's meager income. That volume, "A Christmas Carol, "has long since become one of the most beloved stories in the English language. As much a part of the holiday season as holly, mistletoe, and evergreen wreaths, this perennial favorite continues to delight new readers and rekindle thoughts of charity and goodwill.
With its characters exhibiting many qualities as well as failures often ascribed to Dickens himself, the imaginative and entertaining tale relates Ebenezer Scrooge's eerie encounters with a series of spectral visitors. Journeying with them through Christmases past, present, and future, he is ultimately transformed from an arrogant, obstinate, and insensitive miser to a generous, warmhearted, and caring human being. Written by one of England's greatest and most popular novelists, "A Christmas Carol" has come to epitomize the true meaning of Christmas."

Extras

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 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 Saint Paul's Churchyard 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 warmth could warm, nor 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 weather didn't know where to have him. The heaviest rain, and snow, and hail, and sleet, could boast of the advantage over him in only one respect. They often 'came down' handsomely, and Scrooge never did.

Nobody ever stopped him in the street to say, with gladsome looks, 'My dear Scrooge, how are you? when will you come to see me?' No beggars implored him to bestow a trifle, no children asked him what it was 'oclock, no man or woman ever once in all his life inquired the way to such and such a place, of Scrooge. Even the blindmen's dogs appeared to know him; and when they saw him coming on, would tug their owners into doorways and up courts; and then would wag their tails as though they said, 'no eye at all is better than an evil eye, dark master!'

But what did Scrooge care? It was the very thing he liked. To edge his way along the crowded paths of life, warning all human sympathy to keep its distance, was what the knowing ones call 'nuts' to Scrooge.

Once upon a time—of all the good days in the year, on Christmas Eve—old Scrooge sat busy in his counting-house. It was cold, bleak, biting weather: foggy withal: and he could hear the people in the court outside, go wheezing up and down, beating their hands upon their breasts, and stamping their feet upon the pavement-stones to warm them. The city clocks had only just gone three, but it was quite dark already: it had not been light all day: and candles were flaring in the windows of the neighbouring offices, like ruddy smears upon the palpable brown air. The fog came pouring in at every chink and keyhole, and was so dense without, that although the court was of the narrowest, the houses opposite were mere phantoms. To see the dingy cloud come drooping down, obscuring everything, one might have thought that Nature lived hard by, and was brewing on a large scale.

The door of Scrooge's counting-house was open that he might keep his eye upon his clerk, who in a dismal little cell beyond, a sort of tank, was copying letters. Scrooge had a very small fire, but the clerk's fire was so very much smaller that it looked like one coal. But he couldn't replenish it, for Scrooge kept the coal-box in his own room; and so surely as the clerk came in with the shovel, the master predicted that it would be necessary for them to part. Wherefore the clerk put on his white comforter, and tried to warm himself at the candle; in which effort, not being a man of a strong imagination, he failed.


From the Paperback edition.

Cuprins

Author's Preface Preface Characters A Christmas Carol Stave I: Marley's Ghost Stave II: The First of the Three Spirits Stave III: The Second of the Three Spirits Stave IV: The Last of the Spirits Stave V: The End of It Editorische Notiz Literaturhinweise Nachwort