Since its publication on 19 December 1843, A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens has never been out of print. It was an astonishing and instant success, selling out its first 6,000 copy print run in just five days. With the novella’s success, a new industry was created, and by December 1844, a plethora of seasonal titles had been published. Although A Christmas Carol remains the most famous, Dickens was just one of many 19th-century authors who wrote and published seasonal tales. Here are some of my favourites:
1. The Nutcracker and the Mouse King by E. T. A. Hoffmann (1816)
The original story is much darker than the ballet it inspired. On Christmas Eve, seven-year-old Marie Stahlbaum’s favourite toy, a Nutcracker in the shape of a solider, comes to life and battles the seven-headed Mouse King and his army of mice. […]
First published on The Royal Literary Fund website on 20th December 2024. Read full article online.