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Oliver Twist. Pip. The ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. The characters of Charles Dickens live on in our imaginations long after we've read his renowned works of social commentary and vivid storytelling. And though these novels were written more than one hundred years ago, no home library today would be complete without them.
This Canterbury Classics edition of Charles Dickens collects some of his most famous and beloved works—The Adventures of Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, A Tale of Two Cities, and Great Expectations—in an elegant, leather-bound, keepsake edition. For those who've never read Dickens, it's the perfect opportunity to experience his unique and compelling writing. And for those who are already Dickens devotees, an introduction by a renowned scholar will provide additional context and food for thought.
Specially designed end papers, a ribbon bookmark, and other enhancements complete the package and make this the perfect gift for any lover of literature—a book to read and treasure!
Born on February 7, 1812, Charles Dickens is one of the most popular literary authors of all time. After a very tumultuous childhood, Dickens finally succeeded in getting his first story in a London periodical. As the number of his published works increased, so did his fame. Although he died in 1870, Dickens works are some of the most famous written works in the English language.
Ernest Hilbert received his doctorate in English Language and Literature from Oxford University in 2000. He has served as editor for the Oxford Quarterly, Random House’s magazine Bold Type, and the Contemporary Poetry Review. His writing has appeared in American Scholar, The New Republic, The New Criterion, London Magazine, Yale Review, and many other publications. He is an antiquarian bookseller with the firm Bauman Rare Books, where he has had the pleasure of placing many Charles Dickens first editions of into private and public collections.
In 1824, young Charles was withdrawn from school and forced to work at a boot-blacking factory when his improvident father, accompanied by his mother and siblings, was sentenced to three months in a debtor's prison. Once they were released, Charles attended a private school for three years. The young man then became a solicitor's clerk, mastered shorthand, and before long was employed as a Parliamentary reporter. When he was in his early twenties, Dickens began to publish stories and sketches of London life in a variety of periodicals.
It was the publication of Pickwick Papers (1836-1837) that catapulted the twenty-five-year-old author to national renown. Dickens wrote with unequaled speed and often worked on several novels at a time, publishing them first in monthly installments and then as books. His early novels Oliver Twist (1837-1838), Nicholas Nickleby (1838-1839), The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-1841), and A Christmas Carol (1843) solidified his enormous, ongoing popularity. As Dickens matured, his social criticism became increasingly biting, his humor dark, and his view of poverty darker still. David Copperfield (1849-1850), Bleak House (1852-1853), Hard Times (1854), A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1860-1861), and Our Mutual Friend (1864-1865) are the great works of his masterful and prolific period.
In 1858 Dickens's twenty-three-year marriage to Catherine Hogarth dissolved when he fell in love with Ellen Ternan, a young actress. The last years of his life were filled with intense activity: writing, managing amateur theatricals, and undertaking several reading tours that reinforced the public's favorable view of his work but took an enormous toll on his health. Working feverishly to the last, Dickens collapsed and died on June 8, 1870, leaving The Mystery of Edwin Drood uncompleted.
Author biography from the Barnes & Noble Classics edition of David Copperfield.
Overview
Oliver Twist. Pip. The ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future. The characters of Charles Dickens live on in our imaginations long after we've read his renowned works of social commentary and vivid storytelling. And though these novels were written more than one hundred years ago, no home library today would be complete without them.
This Canterbury Classics edition of Charles Dickens collects some of his most famous and beloved works—The Adventures of Oliver Twist, A ...