John Leech.

John Leech (1817 – 1864) was a caricaturist and illustrator noted for his work with Punch and as the illustrator of A Christmas Carol as well as other christmas short stories for Charles Dickens.

In 1843, Leech created eight illustrations for the Charles Dickens novella A Christmas Carol, providing four coloured plates and four in black and white, created from woodcuts, engraved by W. J. Linton (later the husband of Eliza Lynn Linton, the novelist, from whom Dickens purchased Gadshill in 1856).

We have included them below (in order that they appear in the book). Click on an image to see the illustration in greater detail.

John Leech
Portrait of John Leech, cartoonist to Punch magazine.

Illustrations from A Christmas Carol.


1. Mr. Fezziwig’s Ball (Title-page and frontispiece).
2. Marley’s Ghost (Stave 1).
3. The Ghosts of Departed Usurers, or, The Phantoms (Stave 2).
4. Scrooge Extinguishes the First of The Three Spirits (Stave 2).
5. Scrooge’s third Visitor (Stave 3).
6. Ignorance and Want (Stave 3).
7. The Last of the Spirits — The Pointing Finger (Stave 4).
8. Scrooge and Bob Cratchit (Stave 5).