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When Charles Dickens passed away in 1870 at the age of 58, The Times newspaper campaigned successfully for him to be buried amongst Britain's kings and heroes of yesteryear in Westminster Abbey. As with Charles Darwin twelve years later, the funeral itself was a major event, with thousands from all strata of society flocking to mourn the passing of one of Victorian England's most famous and lauded celebrities. A far cry from the wretched childhood of penury and hardship the author had to endure, following his profligate father being sent to debtors' prison and the young Charles being forced into the horror of factory work at the age of 12. These were the brutalising experiences that Dickens was able to draw upon and use to such devastating effect in his writings, at the heart of the social commentary to be found in works such as Oliver Twist for example, but it also helps explain Dickens' need for redemption and moral advancement, evidenced most famously perhaps in A Christmas Carol. Creative genius, talented performer, relentless traveller and energetic righter of wrongs, no contemporary figure shines a brighter light on the ambitions, contradictions and consequences of the Victorian era than Charles Dickens.
“Poetry makes life what lights and music do the stage.”
Following the success of a compilation of his short journalistic pieces in Sketches by Boz (1836), Dickens was commissioned to work up a novel based on popular comic sporting pictures by the illustrator Robert Seymour, and the result was his first published novel, The Posthumous Papers of the Pickwick Club, originally published serially from March 1836 to October 1837. The work was a phenomenal success, spawning many imitations, and putting Dickens firmly on the literary map. This attractive, large-format edition features colour plates by Punch artist Frank Reynolds, who splendidly illustrated several early 20th century editions of Dickens' works.
"There are books of which the backs and covers are by far the best parts."
Dickens' second novel Oliver Twist; or, the Parish Boy's Progress was first published as a serial between 1837 & 39. Recounting the adventures and misadventures of poor orphan boy Oliver Twist, born in a workhouse and sold into apprenticeship with an undertaker, the novel remains one of Dickens' most famous works to this day. This is in no small part down to the wonderful cast of characters that populate the story: the manipulative and fundamentally weak Fagin; the Artful Dodger with "all the airs and manners of a man"; the mid-tier criminal Sikes and his dog; the conscience-stricken but flawed Nancy; the arrogant and hypocritical beadle Mr Bumble, and of course the vulnerable but determined Oliver. This superb vintage edition of Oliver Twist was printed in the 1890s and is in the original gilt-pictorial cloth as published.
“Mystery and disappointment are not absolutely indispensable to the growth of love, but they are, very often, its powerful auxiliaries.”
The third novel by Dickens, originally published as a serial from 1838 to 1839, Nicholas Nickleby centres on the life and adventures of a young man who must support his mother and sister following the death of his father. After being betrayed by his wealthy uncle, Nicholas has to make his own way in a tough world, providing the author with an opportunity to introduce a veritable rogues' gallery to the reader to a classically picaresque adventure! This warming deep red of this vintage edition would complement any reader's library.
"I will honour Christmas in my heart, and try to keep it all the year."
A work that needs little introduction due to its seasonal popularity and the multitude of adaptations for screen, stage and radio alike, A Christmas Carol remains our best-selling Dickens title. The tale of redemption featuring Ebenezer Scrooge as the miser who learns the true meaning of Christmas when three ghostly visitors review his past and foretell his future was one of five stories by Dickens for Christmas, but easily the best known. This deliciously seasonal edition was published for the New Penguin Clothbound series in 2010 and would make the perfect gift 'All the Year Round'.
The last of Dickens' Christmas novellas, The Haunted Man & The Ghost's Bargain revisits the spirit of Dickens' Christmas Books Past, reminiscent in particular of A Christmas Carol, centred on the regretful Professor Redlaw and his phantom twin that offers him the chance to escape from the prison of the past. Originally published in 1848, the charming edition here is bound and gilt-stamped in matching style to the first edition, and reprinted from the original stereotype plates.
“It would seem as if there never was a book written, or a story told, expressly with the object of keeping boys on shore, which did not lure and charm them to the ocean, as a matter of course.”
Charles Dickens' seventh novel, Dombey & Son was a commercial triumph upon its serial publication between October 1846 & April 1848, despite the author's anxieties that his new publishers Bradbury & Evans might be out of their depth. The story, in spite of the title, largely revolves around Mr. Dombey Snr's relationship with his daughter Florence, the damage done to it by Dombey's ambition for worldly success, and their eventual reconciliation. As usual, the novel introduces the reader to a host of well-drawn characters, and is underpinned by a range of social themes from the period, including arranged marriage for financial gain and child cruelty. The two volume edition here is from Caxton's collected works of Dickens, bound in their distinctive geometrically patterned cloth.
“My advice is, never do to-morrow what you can do today. Procrastination is the thief of time. Collar him!”
A bildungsroman format novel by Dickens, narrated by the eponymous David Copperfield, in which he describes his journey from an unhappy and impoverished childhood to the discovery of his vocation as a successful novelist, borrowing events from Dickens' own life. David Copperfield introduces us to a vivid cast of characters, not least of which are the formidable aunt, Betsey Trotwood, the treacherous Uriah Heep and of course the perpetually impecunious but eternally optimistic Wilkins Micawber, one of literature's great comic creations. This edition is the perfect introduction for younger readers to one of Dickens' greatest novels.
“There is a wisdom of the head, and...there is a wisdom of the heart.”
First published in 1854, Hard Times is perhaps the archetypal Dickens novel, interweaving social and moral themes against a backdrop of industry, capitalism and Mark Twain's favourite bugbear, statistics. This excellent vintage edition of Hard Times is published with three other stories by Dickens, and is unusually bound in historiated embossed leather.
“It was the best of times, it was the worst of times.”
After eighteen years as a prisoner in the Bastille, Dr Manettee settles in London with his long-lost daughter Lucie. But their tranquil existence is shattered when the family is drawn back to Paris, a city in the grip of the Terror. In Dicken’s great historical novel, the action switches between London and Revolutionary Paris in a compelling drama of love, vengeance and sacrifice. This Chiltern Publishing edition, in its oh-so-tactile cloth, is a bibliophile's delight.
“No one who can read, ever looks at a book, even unopened on a shelf, like one who cannot.”
Dickens' last completed novel, Our Mutual Friend is a satirical study into the allure and peril of money, revolving around the inheritance of a dust-heap where the rich throw their trash. This handsome edition is one of a series bound to uniform style for the Household Edition of Charles Dickens' works.
Charles Dickens is remembered as one of the most important and influential writers of the 19th century; certainly few other authors of fiction could claim to have had such a direct impact on social reform. His novels are still enjoyed to this day by a huge readership around the world, and regularly remain among our top sellers here at Country House Library!
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