Dickens wrote the whole of 'The Bill,' but in 1867, when he decided to separate his contribution to The Holly-Tree Inn from the rest of the Christmas number and reprint his share in an edition of his collected Christmas stories, he left out or rewrote those passages (such as the opening paragraph, p. 607) which referred to segments not by him. Editions of the Collected Works have reprinted these writings (usually under the title Christmas Stories) in their 1867 form. See note to The Holly-Tree Inn [1855 Christmas].

Harry Stone; © Bloomington and Indiana University Press, 1968. DJO gratefully acknowledges permission to reproduce this material.