Christmas Carol author Charles Dickens visited Ireland in August, 1858 as part of a book tour that also included England and Scotland. Even in his own time, Dickens was a celebrity. Much in the same way that any reading by J. K. Rowling would have fans pressed against the door, Dickens’ fans packed theatres wherever he read in Ireland.
Dickens traveled by ferry and landed in Dublin’s fair city on August 21, 1858. He stayed at what was called then the Morrison’s Hotel on Nassau Street. The old building with an iconic green dome is now a cute coffee shop.
He “wandered about it for 6 to 8 hours in all directions” and then took a carriage ride around Phoenix Park. Many tourists enjoy a carriage ride around St Stephen’s Greene. Dickens walked to the top of O’Connell Street to what is now called the Ambassador Theatre where he had to push through a crowd of fans to get inside. In front of a crowd of 3,000 more fans inside, Dickens read and acted out parts from “The Story of Little Dombey” and other selected readings. He said about his audience, “of their quickness as to the humor there can be no doubt.”
Following his success in Dublin, he took the train up to Belfast, commenting on the ride, “Everything looks prosperous; the railway ride from Dublin [is] quite amazing; every cottage looking as if it had been white-washed the day before; and many with charming gardens, pretty kept with bright flowers.”
In Belfast he read from A Christmas Carol. His fans packed into the house, “there was a very great uproar at the opening of the doors, which, the police in attendance being quite insufficient . . . it was impossible to check.” Dickens was particularly popular with the ladies. In a letter he wrote home, “Yesterday morning, as I showered the leaves from my geranium in reading Little Dombey, they mounted the platform after I was gone and picked them all up, as keepsakes.”
Before his reading in Belfast, Dickens visited Victoria Hall, Giant’s Cradle, and the cute coastal town of Carrickfergus, all of which still draw tourists today. Dickens was further impressed by his Irish audiences. He said about his Belfast fans, “The success at Belfast has been of equal success here. Enormous! I think them a better audience on the whole than Dublin; and the personal affection [here], was something overwhelming.”
From Belfast he traveled to Cork via Dublin. He dropped his bags off at the Imperial Hotel, still present today on August 30. Dickens then read at the Athenaeum, now called the Cork Opera House. Before leaving Cork he kissed the Blarney Stone, which is a must for any tourist in Ireland today. Dickens said about Cork, “Cork was an immense success. We found upward of a thousand stalls let, for the three readings. A great many people were turned away too, on the last night.”
Having completed his tour of Ireland, Dickens continued on to the next city, but he came back to Ireland for another book tour in 1867 and again in 1869.
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Switch to the desktop site to post a comment.eiriamach | Dec 26, 2012, 10:40 AM EST
Ken, "A Christmas Carol" is relevant, as KatieM says, to the polarity in American and Irish political life today. Ebenezer Scrooge's obsession with money and his pride in being a job-creator who has the right to control the family life of his employee parallel core issues in the recent campaign between Romney and Obama. The voters chose a more equal approach to the economy, just as Scrooge chose, after visits from the Spirits of Christmas past, present, and future, to spread good will and prosperity to everyone he met. This tale is more timely than ever for people severely affected-- some to the point of suicide-- by the global recessions.
KatieMurphy | Dec 26, 2012, 02:16 AM EST
Its too bad that we cant bring Dickens back to the USA. A christmas Carol is of course also the story that the republican party needs to heed. For it is they who want more and more money to go to the rich and powerful, as well as they under Bush all but destroyed not just the USA but much of the world economy. Dont expect any change. Money is like and Obsessive compulsive disorder to these types of people. And yes I know there are many dems like the repubs, but in general the dems are concerned with those who suffer, while much of the repubs only care about themselves........... Yes I waS a repub until the crash came. Never again. Too many people committed suicide including about 100 families per a FRB agent I know - those 100 families - the husband in the depths of despaair , believe it or not - actually killed off their whole family and then themselves. And if you remember the SChiavo scene with Bush about protecting the life of abrain dead woman, well he also in 1994 - an election year - REMOVED THE BAN ON ASSAULT WEAPONS.