Editing A Christmas Carol (section)

===Literary influences===
[[File:Washington Irving by Charles Turner after Gilbert Stuart Newton cropped.jpg|thumb|alt=Head and torso engraving of a man|upright|left|[[Washington Irving]] in 1820]]
Dickens was not the first author to celebrate the Christmas season in literature.{{sfn|Kelly|2003|p=12}} Among earlier authors who influenced Dickens was [[Washington Irving]], whose 1819–20 work ''[[The Sketch Book of Geoffrey Crayon, Gent.]]'' included four essays on old English [[Christmas traditions]] that he experienced while staying at [[Aston Hall]] near Birmingham.{{sfn|Kelly|2003|p=20}} The tales and essays attracted Dickens, and the two authors shared the belief that returning to Christmas traditions might promote a type of social connection that they felt had been lost in the modern world.{{sfn|Restad|1996|p=137}}

Several works had an influence on the writing of ''A Christmas Carol'', including two essays by his friend [[Douglas Jerrold]]: one from an 1841 issue of ''[[Punch (magazine)|Punch]]'', "How Mr. Chokepear Keeps a Merry Christmas" and one from 1843, "The Beauties of the Police".{{sfnm|1a1=Douglas-Fairhurst|1y=2006|1p=viii|2a1=Ledger|2y=2007|2pp=117–120}} More broadly, Dickens was influenced by fairy tales and nursery stories, which he closely associated with Christmas, because he saw them as stories of conversion and transformation.{{sfn|Douglas-Fairhurst|2006|p=xxiv}}