Now, it is a fact, that there was nothing at all particular about the knocker on the door, except that it was very large. It is also a fact, that Scrooge had seen it, night and morning, during his whole residence in that place; also that Scrooge had as little of what is called fancy about him as any man in the city of London, even including--which is a bold word--the corporation, aldermen, and livery. Let it also be borne in mind that Scrooge had not bestowed one thought on Marley, since his last mention of his seven years' dead partner that afternoon. And then let any man explain to me, if he can, how it happened that Scrooge, having his key in the lock of the door, saw in the knocker, without its undergoing any intermediate process of change--not a knocker, but Marley's face.
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A Christmas Carol
By Charles Dickens
A retelling of the story about a miser whose life is changed by Christmas.
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Bite reviewed this specific edition as public domain using the source, jurisdiction records, and dated evidence below. Public domain is a legal status rather than a licence, and it may differ by country or edition.
- Edition
- Project Gutenberg eBook #46 — 1843 text; use text-only body
- Source text
- Open the source edition
- Review coverage
- 44 jurisdictions · latest check 31 Aug 2026
Review all jurisdiction evidenceauthor; writer of the Preface (signed "C. D.") Charles Dickens died 1870. All identified copyright-relevant edition contributors are beyond the conservative expiry cutoff applied from the cited jurisdictional duration rule as of 2026-08-31.
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A look inside
89 / 719A Christmas Carol
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Read passages from A Christmas Carol. Each sample opens without an account.
- Who's the Worse?
- Not in Our Name
- An unexpected raise
- Scrooge’s Name on a Grave
- Condemned to Witness
- A Quiet Christmas Reconciliation
- I Will Honour Christmas
- The Chain We Forged
- Chained by Commerce
- Christmas as theft?
- Paths and Ends
- A blessing for Bob Cratchit
- Horror Among the Spoils
- A Boastful Turkey
- A Room Transformed
- The Forgotten Boy at the Desk
- Open the Bundle
- A Callous Calculation
- What Might Have Been
- A ghostly idea
- A Plea for Redemption
- When Money Outlives Kindness
- Marley Was Dead
- The Contagion of Laughter
- Children of Want and Ignorance
- Begging for a second chance
- A vow in three tenses
- I fear you, but I am ready
- Two Wretched Children
- Marley's Dismal Face
- Christmas at Sea
- What Promised Happiness Now Hurts
- Confined by a Counting-House
- A Touch That Brings Back Memory
- It's Christmas Day
- Good Deeds Beyond Death
- Home, for ever and ever
- The Strange Spirit
- Phantom reduced to bedpost
- Fezziwig's Dance
- Chains of Missed Opportunity
- A Grave Warning
- Hard as Flint
- Small Acts, Great Happiness
- Shadows of What May Be
- Eyes Turned Down
- A New Christmas Promise
- Mankind Was My Business
- The Knocker Becomes Marley's Face
- The Chain He Carries
- If This Had Never Been
- Scrooge Unravels in Joy
- Wrestling with a Many-Faced Ghost
- The Man Who Would Be Left Alone
- A Yearly Promise
- Fezziwig's luminous dance
- The Cynic's Christmas
- A family's little triumph
- Finding Joy in the Ordinary
- Why Christmas Matters
- When Gain Replaces Hope
- A Generous, Joyful Presence
- Displaced, not bitter
- What Right to Be Merry?
- Ignorance and Want
- A Merry Defiance
- Remembering mercy
- Phantoms in Chains