Home / Explore / Time / 19th century (1800–1899) / 1840s
The 1840s: 1840–1849
1840–1849 · worldwide, all places
Moving through time
Potato blight starved Ireland from 1845, killing a million and sending another million across the Atlantic. Revolutions broke out across Europe in 1848 and were all defeated within a year, while the United States seized half of Mexico in the 1846-48 war.
The famine and the failed revolutions made the 1840s a decade of exiles. Dickens's A Christmas Carol ghosts a London miser in 1843, and Ammonite imagines the fossil-hunter Mary Anning's 1840s love affair in Lyme Regis. Open the 1840s on the StoryTerra map and explore its stories by place.
10 famous stories set in the 1840s
Live snapshot of the top 10 most popular catalogue items (2026-09-05). Click any card to open this entry on the live map.
Browse 90 books, 55 movies, 2 TV shows and 2 games set in the 1840s (1840–1849).
A Christmas Carol
Miser Ebenezer Scrooge is awakened on Christmas Eve by spirits who reveal to him his own miserable existence what opportunities he wasted in his youth his current cruelties and the dire fate that awaits him if he does…
The Complete Works of Edgar Allan Poe
No library's complete without the classics! This new, enhanced leather-bound edition collects some of the most influential stories and poems of Edgar Allan Poe.Edgar Allan Poe was a master of tales of the mysterious and…
The Little Match Girl
The wares of the poor little match girl illuminate her cold world, bringing some beauty to her brief, tragic life.
The Raven
A fictionalized account of the last days of Edgar Allan Poe's life in which the poet is in pursuit of a serial killer whose murders mirror those in the writer's stories.
Ammonite
In 1840s England palaeontologist Mary Anning and a young woman sent by her husband to convalesce by the sea develop an intense relationship. Despite the chasm between their social spheres and personalities Mary and…
The Man Who Invented Christmas
In 1843 despite the fact that Dickens is a successful writer the failure of his latest book puts his career at a crossroads until the moment when struggling with inspiration and confronting reality with his childhood…
The Heiress
Dull and plain Catherine lives with her emotionally distant father Dr. Sloper in 1840s New York. Her days are empty — filled with little more than needlepoint. Enter handsome Morris Townsend a dashing social climber…
Wuthering Heights
You can find the redesigned cover of this edition HERE.This best-selling Norton Critical Edition is based on the 1847 first edition of the novel. For the Fourth Edition, the editor has collated the 1847 text with…
The Complete Stories and Poems
This single volume brings together all of Poe's stories and poems, and illuminates the diverse and multifaceted genius of one of the greatest and most influential figures in American literary history.
Ravenous
Upon receiving reports of missing persons at Fort Spencer a remote Army outpost on the Western frontier Capt. John Boyd investigates. After arriving at his new post Boyd and his regiment aid a wounded frontiersman who…
The 10 stories above are just a sample of the 149 in the catalogue for this entry. For the live 1840–1849 catalogue, use the button above — or browse the whole 19th century. On the live map you can also filter by the exact time the stories take place — any year, decade or century, from BCE to the future.
Relevant picks from this decade
Victorian Britain: 1837–1901 — An era of empire, industrial revolution, and social reform that deeply influenced global history and inspired countless novels — from Dickens' London… Explore Victorian Britain: 1837–1901
Victorian London: 1837–1901 — Explore the foggy streets of London during Queen Victoria's reign — rapid industrialization, social change, and iconic literature like Dickens'… Explore Victorian London: 1837–1901
Imperial Vienna: 1800–1900 — The grand capital of empires — known for classical music, imperial courts, and political intrigue in the 19th century, from Congress waltzes to… Explore Imperial Vienna: 1800–1900
Early Australia: 1788–1890 — From 1788 to the late 19th century, Australia's story unfolds across penal settlements, frontier towns, and Indigenous cultures facing change —… Explore Early Australia: 1788–1890
Tsarist Russia: 1700–1917 — The age of imperial grandeur, social unrest, and revolution that shaped the modern Russian state and inspired epic tales — Tolstoy ballrooms,… Explore Tsarist Russia: 1700–1917
Buenos Aires Through the Ages: 1700–1950 — From colonial beginnings and independence to Belle Époque grandeur, the birth of tango, and the city's role as Argentina's vibrant cultural heart —… Explore Buenos Aires Through the Ages: 1700–1950
Keep exploring
1830s · 19th century · Time hub · All places · 1850s