Book excerpt: A nice edition of this Christmas classic with 20 original illustrations. The Chimes was first published in 1844, one year after A Christmas Carol. It is the second in Charles Dickens' series of "Christmas books," five novellas with strong social and moral messages that he published during the 1840s. In addition to A Christmas Carol and The Chimes, the Christmas books include The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, and The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain. It was written during Dickens' year-long visit to Italy. Dickens was struck one day by the clamor of the Genoese bells audible from the villa where they were staying. The chimes are old bells in the church on whose steps Trotty Veck plies his trade. The book is divided into four parts named "quarters", after the quarter chimes of a striking clock.