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Dickens Christmas classic launched as eBook
![[Colour plate from Dickens' A Christmas Carol realised by Alan L Tabor]](/aboutus/news/marleysghost..jpg)
Marley's ghost visits Scrooge
We have recently made available an exquisite handwritten edition of Dickens’ A Christmas Carol to iPad users.
The manuscript, written by little known Manchester artist Alan L Tabor, was digitised using state-of-the-art technology by specialist photographers at the world famous university library. Tabor wrote the entire text by hand and decorated it with medieval style illustrations. His widow donated the manuscript to the Library when he died in 1957.
Published in facsimile by George G. Harrap in 1916, the book is the latest Rylands addition to the ground-breaking ‘eBook Treasures’ series, which enables iPad users to explore rare works from UK collections in ultra high-definition.
Also being made available is a first edition of Shakespeare’s sonnets, published during the poet’s lifetime in 1609. They are one of only 13 copies in existence. The sonnets were bought by the Spencer family for £8 in 1798 then acquired by the Library in 1901 as part of the Spencer Collection.
Developed with media company Armadillo Systems, each eBook costs £4.99 and uses realistic page turning software linked to additional video and audio content.
Find out more about eBook Treasures from The John Rylands Library
Updated: Mon, Dec 5, 2011