Christmas 2012 stamps - Ascension Island

A set of four stamps from Ascension Island, for Christmas 2012, celebrate the bi-centenary of the birth of A Christmas Carol author Charles Dickens. The stamps show scenes from the novel with paintings of Scrooge passing a group of carol singers (25p), Scrooge being visited by the ghost of Jacob Marley (40p), Tiny TIm on his father's shoulder (50p) and Tiny Tim's family preparing for their Christmas Dinner (£1.25).

A Christmas Carol was first published on 19 December 1843, the same year that the world's first commercially produced Christmas card became available. Since then, the novel has never been out of print and has been adapted for film and TV many times. The novel has been credited with re-awakening an interest in a traditional and joyous Christmas, as a contrast to the Cromwellian festivities which encouraged sombrenesss and soberness.

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