Did Dickens invent Christmas?
Illustration by John Leech from The Victorian Web
A new book in the library’s browsing collection The Man Who Invented Christmas: How Charles Dicken’s A Christmas Carol Rescued his Career and Revived our Holiday Spirits, Browsing Collection Sta , proposes that Dicken’s work had a strong influence on our celebration of Christmas. If you would like to read the original classic over the holidays, the library has many versions such as the 2004 Norton Annotated Christmas Carol (GC PR4572 .C68 2004, 4th floor Library North.) There are also versions available freely on the web such as the Project Gutenberg version of A Christmas Carol. Do you think this story influenced how we celebrate Christmas?