Synopses & Reviews
These stories were written for the Christmas numbers of
Household Words (a periodical later incorporated into
All the Year Round), which Dickens launched to bring himself even closer to his many followers. The first stories are spirited, nostalgic, at times even sentimental. Before long, however, as Margaret Lane notes in her Introduction, there is a change: "That complacent family circle, warm and well-fed and contented round the crackling fire, must be made to look beyond the plush curtains and the solid walls, and listen to another...radical voice." But Dickens did not make the mistake of turning these stories into sermons; they are both thought-provoking and entertaining.
Several of the stories were written in collaboration with Wilkie Collins.
Review
"Chesterton asserted that time would show that Dickens was not merely one of the Victorians, but incomparably the greatest English writer of his time; and Shaw coupled his name with that of Shakespeare. It is the conviction of the present writer that both these judgments were justified. Dickens though he cannot of course pretend to the rank where Shakespeare has few companions was nevertheless the greatest dramatic writer that the English had had since Shakespeare, and he created the largest and most varied world." Edmund Wilson in The Wound and the Bow
Synopsis
Dickens wrote all the stories presented here during the 1850s as contributions to the special Christmas issues of Household Words, the weekly magazine he founded and edited. Included are fictional sketches verging on the autobiographical, recollections of childhood, reflections on past holidays and old friends, as well as tales of misunderstandings and lost opportunities. Humorous, tragic, uplifting, richly human, they reaffirm the virtue of nurturing our traditions, and offer a master storyteller's vision of the real meaning of Christmas.
Series Description
The Oxford Illustrated Dickens
This collectable series is the most comprehensive illustrated Dickens available. Each volume includes up to seventy-six early engravings, many of which appeared in the first editions of these works. The text is derived from the Charles Dickens Edition, revised by the author in the 1860s.
Table of Contents
Introduction by Margaret Lane v
A Christmas Tree 1
What Christmas Is As We Grow Older 19
The Poor Relation's Story 27
The Child's Story 41
The Schoolboy's Story 47
Nobody's Story 59
The Seven Poor Travellers 67
The Holly-Tree 95
The Wreck of the Golden Mary 131
The Perils of Certain English Prisoners 161
Going Into Society 209
The Haunted House 223
A Message From the Sea 253
Tom Tiddler's Ground 287
Somebody's Luggage 315
Mrs. Lirriper's Lodgings 367
Mrs. Lirriper's Legacy 403
Doctor Marigold 433
Mugby Junction 473
No Thoroughfare 537
The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices 661