A Story for Anyone Who has Ever Loved Halloween . . . or Hated it!
John Leech
1817-1864
John Leech was a British caricaturist and illustrator, who became well-known in nineteenth century England, achieving fame from his frequent drawings for the satirical Punch magazine. The majority of his illustrations were produced by etchings on steel, lithographs, or wood engravings.
Leech had unsuccessfully applied for the commission to produce illustrations for Dickens’ The Pickwick Papers, but later he and Dickens were introduced by one of the novelists former illustrators. In late 1843 and just two months prior to the intended seasonal publication of A Christmas Carol, Dickens asked Leech to illustrate his new “Christmas book.” The power of Leech’s visuals served a perfect accompaniment, helping Dickens sell a popular book and to establish the author’s most memorable work in the public mind.
Leech would go on to produce illustrations for Dickens’ later and lesser known Christmas books. He was quite popular in his lifetime, and besides his ongoing work for Punch, he also illustrated numerous novels, sports books, almanacs, and produced over 50,000 hand drawings.
John Leech Illustrator of A Christmas Carol
Title Page of the 1843 First Edition of A Christmas Carol
Leech's etching shows Mr. and Mrs. Fezziwig dancing at the party in Christmas Past.
Inspiring Imagery
The original 1843 Illustrations included four hand-coloured etchings and four black-and-white wood engravings. These visuals helped introduce the world to Dickens' characters and established the look and mood of the book, cementing key scenes in the public mind. Most of the content illustrated for A Halloween Hymn was chosen from these original scenes by Leech, though reflected often in a thematic reverse and within a Halloween context. How many connections between the famous illustrations and the adaptation can you recognize and identify?
Arthur Rackham
1867-1939
Another Englishman with an unmistakable and unique style, Arthur Rackham was regarded as one of the leading illustrators of the 'Golden Age' of British book illustration. Working in pen and India ink with watercolors, he was among the first of commercial artists who did not require an engraver as the technology of book production had advanced through a color-separated printing process. Rackham’s illustrations were photographed and then mechanically reproduced with an accurate presentation of his color artwork and retaining the original vitality of his drawings.
Rackham’s prolific career often focused on the imaginative topics of fantastic classic literature, wildly realized in his stylings. Among them were his takes on the short stories of Washington Irving, the children’s classics of Lewis Carroll and James Barrie, the operas of Richard Wagner, and numerous famous fairy tales. In 1915 he completed 12 color plates for A Christmas Carol bringing a rich and different visual perspective to this story that had become established as a classic. His work was one of the guiding visionary influences for the illustrations of A Halloween Hymn.
Gustave Doré
1832-1883
Considered one of the most significant engravers of all time, the French artist Gustave Doré was a natural talent, considered an art prodigy at the age of five. His mediums included illustration, painting, caricature, comics, sculpting, and wood engraving. Doré worked almost solely in black and white and the look became a distinguishing feature of his style. He was immensely successful, earning over $2 million in his lifetime and enjoying a life of affluence.
Doré’s topics famously include some of the most renowned works of world literature, among them Milton, Dante, and numerous scenes from the Bible. His realizations for Poe’s “The Raven” and Cervantes' Don Quixote have become nearly inseparable from the general public perceptions of those works and characters.
Gustave Dore illustrator of A Christmas Carol
Evil Influence
In seeking direction on how to stylistically realize the Last of the Devils in the climatic future scene of A Halloween Hymn, the work of Doré served as foundational inspiration. His unforgettable illustrations of the anti-hero of Milton's Paradise Lost guided the ideas on how to visually present this key character.
A Christmas Surprise?
Doré' was a contemporary of Dickens and his connection to A Christmas Carol goes much further. In the late 1990's an art historian discovered 45 Doré engravings of scenes from the famous book, the largest set ever produced during the Victorian era. After being tipped off from a 1931 bibliography that mentioned Doré art unfamiliar to him, he later found them in a rare French magazine from 1861. They had remained lost and unknown for 135 years!
A rich Visual Legacy
Film and Television
A Christmas Carol has proven so popular as to be realized in all kinds of media, and is one of the most frequently visualized stories with over 20 theatrical film adaptations and 30 television versions produced in the last century. Many are still repeatedly shown on television each season. Some are praised for their faithfulness to the book and lasting dramatic impact, such as the 1984 British produced television film starring George C. Scott. Others allow for more fanciful interpretations to include musical theater, thematic variations on the story, or use with characters from other media to portray the famous roles, among them Mickey Mouse, the Muppets, and Mr. Magoo.
Ghostly Christmases
A Halloween Hymn, in reversing many thematic elements and changing the holiday, proved a darker adaptation than usual of A Christmas Carol. A Halloween version would be expected to be rather spooky. However the Dickens text is often harrowing at times in addition to its charms and cemented the idea of the "Christmas ghost story." Several film adaptations retain these macabre and frightening aspects from the book, among them the 1984 film, and especially the 1971 Richard Williams animated version, which won the Academy Award for Best Animated Short Film. The often gruesome and fantastic animated visuals of this particular adaptation gave further inspiration in bringing the story into a Halloween context.