Lantern Slide - A Christmas Carol; 'Bob Cratchit's Christmas Dinner'; 1843-1880; One in a series of 19th century lantern slides illustrating Charles Dicken's story 'A Christmas Carol'. 'A Christmas Carol' is a novella by English author Charles Dickens. It was first published by Chapman and Hall on 19 December 1843. The story tells of sour and stingy Ebenezer Scrooge's ideological; ethical; and emotional transformation after the supernatural visitations of Jacob Marley