INTRODUCTION.
Dickens's "Christmas Books" had their efficient cause in financial disappointment. It has been stated, in the Introduction to Martin Chuzzlewit (1843), that the novel fell far below the pecuniary success of the earlier works, and that the publishers talked of putting in force a certain clause in their agreement of 1841. By the action of that clause the author's profits would be considerably reduced. Dickens projected a residence abroad, in the interests of economy, and in October and November, 1843, he composed the Christmas Carol, a severe addition to his work on Chuzzlewit. His brain worked at unusually high pressure; "he wept, and laughed, and wept again, and excited himself in a most extraordinary manner"—so he says. The book, published just before Christmas, 1843, had a success which was then considered great, though far below what now falls to the lot of authors who, like Dickens, have really caught the popular fancy. Many sorts of books, it seems probable, were more freely purchased by our grandfathers than by ourselves, but the successful author of modern fiction would smile at the "thousands" of the Christmas Carol. Only fifteen thousand copies were disposed of in the course of a year, at the price of five shillings. But, for the first six thousand, he received
b 2
