Charles Dickens wrote "A Christmas Carol" in six weeks at the end of 1843, during a particularly intense time of creativity. He was having financial difficulties and was determined to have the manuscript ready for publication for the Christmas market. This book contains a clear copy Dickens' one and only manuscript, written by his hand, with his revisions and corrections evident on every page. The revisions show how Dickens made the verbs become more active, the number of words became fewer, achieving greater immediacy and vividness. This manuscript was handed to the printer in this form and was published on 19th December 1843. This edition has each of the 66 pages of the original manuscript copied onto the left hand page and the corresponding words typed on the right hand page. The book also contains the eight original illustrations by John Leech, the four color illustrations are on the cover of the book.