For instance, in naming Bob Cratchit, he makes the pun between the nickname Bob as being for both a person and a British shilling : "and on the threshold of the door the Spirit smiled, and stopped to bless Bob Cratchit's dwelling with the sprinkling of his torch. Think of that! Bob had but fifteen 'Bob' a-week himself; he pocketed on Saturdays but fifteen copies of his Christian name; and yet the Ghost of Christmas Present blessed his four-roomed house!"
And then, there is the word "cratch," which seems to be a relative of the French word "crèche" (I have never heard it used in American English) - see this article on Wikipedia : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cat%27s_cradle - so I wonder, did Dickens expect his audience to make a second connection with the character of Bob Cratchit? Lots of authors do this kind of thing (Shakespeare, Melville, and Joyce come to my mind), so I wouldn't be surprised if "Cratchit" had a deliberate second meaning.
This image is cut white paper on a black background, showing Scrooge's fiancée, Belle, breaking up with him in Stave 2 :
From details in the text, I have decided, for my version, to place the offices of Scrooge and Marley at 9 Idol Lane, across the street from the church of St. Dunstan-in-the-East. I have no idea whether Dickens intended this location, it's pure conjecture on my part. But it's kind of interesting, or at least I think so. And I hope the current owner doesn't mind. Here's why I've chosen that location :
1. In Stave 1, there is this sentence, about the weather : "If the good Saint Dunstan had but nipped the Evil Spirit's nose with a touch of such weather as that, instead of using his familiar weapons, then indeed he would have roared to lusty purpose." I'll grant the obvious, that this line by itself doesn't indicate anything about the office's location, but Londoners would have known of this church, and being near the Thames riverfront, may well have been colder than further inland.
2. Another line in Stave 1 : "The ancient tower of a church, whose gruff old bell was always peeping slily down at Scrooge out of a Gothic window in the wall, became invisible, and struck the hours and quarters in the clouds, with tremulous vibrations afterwards as if its teeth were chattering in its frozen head up there." St. Dunstan-in-the-East is gothic, damaged in the Great Fire of 1666, and repaired by Christopher Wren. Here is the Wikipedia page : https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/St_Dunstan-in-the-East. I don't know how many other candidates there would be for the church near Scrooge's office, fitting the description, or, again, if Dickens even cared to be so specific. The Great Fire certainly destroyed a number of medieval buildings, including churches, but many of the rebuildings (many by Wren) adopted newer architectural styles.
(St. Dunstan-in-the-West is also gothic, but it was built in 1842, a year before A Christmas Carol, and therefore isn't "ancient" as described by the text.)
3. This illustration is to accompany the following text, from Stave 2 :
He was not alone, but sat by the side of a fair young girl in a mourning-dress: in whose eyes there were tears, which sparkled in the light that shone out of the Ghost of Christmas Past.
"It matters little," she said, softly. "To you, very little. Another idol has displaced me; and if it can cheer and comfort you in time to come, as I would have tried to do, I have no just cause to grieve."
"What Idol has displaced you?" he rejoined.
"A golden one."
St. Dunstan-in-the-East sits between St. Dunstan's Hill and Idol Lane. It may be coincidence, but I noticed that Belle's use of "idol" is in lowercase, but when Scrooge says it, "Idol" has a capital I. Spending too much time at the office, to the destruction of something far more valuable : his relationship with the love of his life.
4. And there is, at Number 9, Idol Lane, a building that was there in the period - it is a Grade II listed building, from the 18th or early 19th century. The information can be found on these (and also probably other) websites : http://www.britishlistedbuildings.co.uk/en-199524-9-idol-lane-ec3-greater-london-authority#.V3qxqVdllyw and https://historicengland.org.uk/listing/the-list/list-entry/1064644
Maybe I'm reading too much into all this. But this kind of delving makes for a fun virtual tour of London. Well, for me at least.
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