Today in Bookish and Literary History, December 19

1686 Crusoe leaves the island. - UK

1776 American Crisis by Thomas Paine - US

The American Crisis is a pamphlet series by 18th century Enlightenment philosopher and author Thomas Paine, originally published from 1776 to 1783 during the American Revolution.

1843 A Christmas Carol by Charles Dickens - UK

First published on December 19, 1843, A Christmas Carol was an instant classic: Londoners thronged to hear Dickens read it in person and bought out the first printing in days. Its reception was so ecstatic that it is credited with helping to revive interest among the Victorians in Christmas traditions, including caroling and holiday cards, as well as inciting an unexpected wave of charitable giving from Britain’s Industrial Age robber barons.

1848 The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain by Charles Dickens - UK

Redlaw is a teacher of chemistry who often broods over wrongs done him and grief from his past.He is haunted by a spirit, who is not so much a ghost as Redlaw's phantom twin and is "an awful likeness of himself...with his features, and his bright eyes, and his grizzled hair, and dressed in the gloomy shadow of his dress..." This spectre appears and proposes to Redlaw that he can allow him to "forget the sorrow, wrong, and trouble you have known...to cancel their remembrance..." Redlaw is hesitant at first, but finally agrees.

1939 Hercule Poirot’s Christmas by Agatha Christie

Christmas Eve, and the Lee family’s reunion is shattered by a deafening crash of furniture and a high-pitched wailing scream. Upstairs, the tyrannical Simeon Lee lies dead in a pool of blood, his throat slashed.

1946 Pacific 1860 by Noël Coward - UK

The story is set in a fictional Pacific British colony during the reign of Queen Victoria. It involves a romantic and sentimental story about a visiting prima donna and her conflict between love and career. There is also the theme of snobbishness from the island's establishment.