London exhibition unwraps Charles Dickens' Christmas Carol

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An exhibition opens in London on Wednesday that will transport visitors back to the year when one of the world's most famous Christmas stories was written.

The Charles Dickens Museum, based at the author's home in Doughty Street, London, will display rarely seen materials from "A Christmas Carol," the classic story written by the 19th century British author.

Original pencil sketches from the story will be included in the exhibition which charts the creation of the classic story. Original costumes from a new film, "The Man Who Invented Christmas," will also be on show.

Charles Dickens Museum, 48 Doughty Street /Photo via London Visitors

Called "A Ghost of an Idea: Unwrapping A Christmas Carol," the exhibition draws on the museum's unrivaled collections of original Dickens materials to examine the issues that drove the social commentator of Victorian England to write the story.

Dickens completed the novella in just six weeks, aiming to have it in bookshops before Christmas and 6,000 copies were sold.

Since then millions of copies have been printed on every continent.

Dickens' home in Doughty Street will be decorated and dressed in a festive Christmas way for the exhibition. When Dickens moved to the house he was a little known writer; when he left after also writing The Pickwick Papers, Oliver Twist and Nicholas Nickleby he was an international superstar.

The Man Who Invented Christmas is released in UK cinemas in December. /Handout Photo‍

Museum curator Frankie Kubicki said the sketches showing scenes of Ebenezer Scrooge with the ghosts of Jacob Marley, Christmas Present and Christmas Yet to Come are the very first depictions of one of the most significant characters in all of literature.

"They are so delicate that we are unable to display them in public for any great length of time. While the completed illustrations are among the more celebrated in publishing history, the original sketches have rarely been published," said Kubicki.

An illustration for "A Christmas Carol" /Photo via Charles Dickens Museum

Dickens was inspired to write the story by a parliamentary report and growing awareness of child poverty. At the time of publication, one critic declared it "a national benefit to every man and woman who reads it."

The new film The Man Who Invented Christmas, which opens in Britain on December 1, focuses on Dickens' motivations for writing A Christmas Carol. The museum is displaying original costumes from the film, as well as examples of its set and costume designs, props and other production material.

The exhibition continues until Feb. 25, 2018.

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Source(s): Xinhua News Agency