One of Dickens's most haunting and bizarre novels, The Old Curiosity Shop is the story of 'Little Nell' and her persecution by the grotesque and lecherous Quilp. This edition uses the Clarendon text, the definitive edition of the novels of Charles Dickens, and includes the original illustrations, fi[...]
'Where is my nephew?, asked Mr Jasper, wildly. 'Where is your nephew?' repeated Neveille. 'Why do you ask me?' 'I ask you,' retorted Jasper, 'because you were the last person in his company, and he is not to be found.' The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Dickens's last novel, lay unfinished at his death. [...]
Charles Dickens explores the work of the most popular author of his age in relation to the contradictory impulses of Victorian society, looking at the vital interconnection between his life and his art. His novels resonate well beyond his own age and continue to be recontextualized on the stage, on[...]
What was it like to be Charles Dickens? His letters are the nearest we can get to a Dickens autobiography: vivid close-up snapshots of a life lived at maximum intensity. This is the first selection to be made from the magisterial twelve-volume British Academy Pilgrim Edition of his letters. From ove[...]
'Clennam rose softly, opened and closed the door without a sound, and passed from the prison, carrying the quiet with him into the turbulent streets.' Introspective and dreamy, Arthur Clennam returns to England from many years abroad to find a people gripped in their self-made social and mental pris[...]
Reissued to celebrate the bicentenary of Charles Dickens's birth, The Oxford Companion to Charles Dickens (formerly The Oxford Reader's Companion to Dickens) draws together an unparalleled diversity of information on one of Britain's greatest writers: covering his life, his works, his reputation, an[...]
The same week in February 1836 that Charles Dickens was hired to write his first novel, The Pickwick Papers, the first railway line in London opened. Charles Dickens's Networks explores the rise of the global, high-speed passenger transport network in the nineteenth century and the indelible impact [...]
Charles Dickens is the definitive illustrated guide to the man and his works. It follows Dickens from early childhood, including his time spent as a child labourer, and looks at how he became the greatest celebrity of his age - and how he still remains recognized as one of England's greatest celebri[...]
Charles Dickens was regarded as a pillar of respectability in Victorian Britain, but in 1858 this image was nearly shattered. With the break-up of his marriage that year, rumours about a scandalous relationship he may have conducted with young actress Ellen "Nelly" Ternan flourished. This book offer[...]
A biography of Dickens that uncovers Dickens the man through the profession in which he excelled. Drawing on a study of this prodigiously brilliant figure, it explores the personal and emotional life, the high-profile public activities, the relentless travel, the charitable works, the amateur theatr[...]
A page-turning account of the scandal that almost ruined Dickens and how the story disappeared from history Charles Dickens was regarded as the great proponent of hearth and home in Victorian Britain, but in 1858 this image was nearly shattered. With the breakup of his marriage that year, rumors of [...]
One of Charles Dickens's most fascinating novels, "Great Expectations" follows the orphan Pip as he leaves behind a childhood of misery and poverty after an anonymous benefactor offers him a chance at the life of a gentleman.
From young Pip's first terrifying encounter with the convict Magwitch [...]
One of Charles Dickens's most critically admired novels, this story of a monumental and life-consuming court case features one of his most vast and varied casts of colorful characters.
In "Bleak House, " competing claims of love and inheritance--complicated by murder--have given rise to a costly[...]
An unknown benefactor provides Philip Pirrip with the chance to escape his poor upbringing. Aspiring to be a gentleman, and encouraged by his expectations of wealth, he abandons his friends and moves to London. His expectations prove to be unfounded however, and he must return home penniless.[...]
Great Expectations is one of Dicken's most popular and studied novels. This edition offers the complete text of the novel, together with an introduction and five critical essays representing a variety of contemporary critical approaches.[...]
Using a text and a cartoon-strip format to link important passages, this work is part of the "Livewire Graphics" series, which brings to life the great classics, making them accessible to students of various abilities.[...]
In this classic social commentary from Dickens, Mr. Samuel Pickwick, retired business man and confirmed bachelor, is determined that after a quiet life of enterprise the time has come to go out into the world. Together with the other members of the Pickwick Club: Tracy Tupman, Augustus Snodgrass and[...]
"Dickens's classic morality tale of a starving orphan caught between opposing forces of good and evil is a powerful indictment of Victorian England's Poor Laws. Filled with dark humor and an unforgettable cast of characters - Oliver Twist, Fagin, Nancy, Bill Sykes, and the Artful Dodger, to name a f[...]
"Widely regarded as Dickens's masterpiece, Bleak House centers on the generations-long lawsuit Jarndyce and Jarndyce, through which "whole families have inherited legendary hatreds." Focusing on Esther Summerson, a ward of John Jarndyce, the novel traces Esther's romantic coming-of-age and, in class[...]