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Dombey is a proud, stern and unfeeling man obsessed with his son, longing for the day that his shipping firm will one day bear the name Dombey and Son. This single-minded ambition, granted... then cruelly taken away, leads Dombey through tragedy, bitterness and separation from his staunch daughter Florence and others who he has wronged and who nevertheless have endeavoured to love him. -
This Dickens offering is set in the imaginary Northern Industrial town of Coketown - a place of blackened factories, downtrodden workers and a polluted environment, the soulless domain of the strict schoolmaster Thomas Gradgrind and heartless factory owner Josiah Bounderby. However, there is always Mr. Sleary's Horse-Riding Circus to lighten things up - a gin-soaked and hilarious troupe of open-hearted and affectionate people who are the antidote to the drudgery and misery of Coketown. Attacked for its 'sullen socialism', it is now regarded as Dickens' most important statement on Victorian society. Also - unusually - this is one of Dickens' shorter novels. Cover art: A Street Scene In Copenhagen by Detlov Konrad Blunck. -
A well-chosen compilation of essays, discourses and short stories. In this volume: The Philosophic Mind; A Bevy of Lovers; Husbands and Wives; Law and Lawyers; The London Scene; To Lie Magnificently; A Little Learning; Essays in Invective; Some Observations on Food; The Latest Hour; The Aphorisms of Samuel and Tony Weller. -
On of Dickens' classics written to rouse society to the sufferings of the poor and the Government's ineptness to do anything practical to help those who had no choice but the grim workhouse. It also illustrates the complete lack of feeling toward the poor, and the corruption that was rife in a mean welfare system that actually made things worse, not better. Oliver's mother dies while bringing him into the world; and the sensitive boy is buffeted from the horrific workhouse to being sold to an undertaker and thence into the foul slums of London. He naively falls in with the Artful Dodger and the evil Fagin, fencer of stolen goods and schooler of children in the art of thievery. There is the vicious Bill Sikes and his pathetic lover Nancy, who is kind to Oliver; Mr Bumble the bullying beadle, Mrs Sowerberry and a whole raft of other vivid Dickensian characters. Oliver's story is unforgettable. Cover art by Seymour Chwast. -
The Pickwick Papers - the comic masterpiece that catapulted the 24-year-old Dickens to immediate fame. Readers were captivated by the adventures of the poet Snodgrass, the lover Tupman, the sportsman Winkle and above all, the quintessentially English Quixote, Mr Pickwick - founder and perpetual president of the Pickwick Club - and his cockney Sancho Panza, Sam Weller. The Pickwickians travel to the far-flung corners of London in search of adventure – from the hallowed turf of Dingley Dell Cricket Club to the unholy fracas of the Eatanswill election, via the Fleet debtor’s prison. Fortunately for this band of gentlemen, amusement and hilarity are never in short supply. Along their way, they encounter plenty of characters – from villains who land them in deep trouble to the lady who sues Pickwick to force him into marriage - and all provide the Pickwickians with plenty of entertaining tales. -
As a boy, Pip Pirrip helps escaped convict Magwitch. Later, to his surprise, he is chosen as a companion to Estelle, the adopted niece of the eccentric Miss Havisham. Some years later Pip finds himself very suddenly elevated from blacksmith's apprentice to a young man of means, with a very good education in view and no clue as to who his mysterious benefactor may be. Filled with wonderful Dickens characters: Joe Gadgery, the simple blacksmith, the mad Miss Havisham clad in the tatters of her wedding gown amid the ruin of her once-grand house, the sinister Magwitch, the perpetually upbeat Samuel Pockets and Samuel's equally upbeat Aged Parent. This edition that contains the two endings that Dickens had determined for Pip. -
Edwin Drood is contracted to marry orphan Rosa Bud when he comes of age, but when they find that duty has gradually replaced affection, they agree to break off the engagement. Shortly afterwards, in the middle of a storm on Christmas Eve, Edwin disappears, leaving nothing behind but some personal belongings and the suspicion that his jealous uncle John Jasper, madly in love with Rosa, is a murderer. Beyond this presumed crime there are further intrigues: the dark opium dens of the sleepy cathedral town of Cloisterham, and the sinister double life of Choirmaster Jasper, whose drug-fuelled fantasy life belies his respectable appearance. Dickens died before completing The Mystery of Edwin Drood, leaving its tantalising mystery unsolved and encouraging successive generations of readers to turn detective. Illustrated by C.E. Montford. -
On of Dickens' classics written to rouse society to the sufferings of the poor and the Government's ineptness to do anything practical to help those who had no choice but the grim workhouse. It also illustrates the complete lack of feeling toward the poor, and the corruption that was rife in a mean welfare system that actually made things worse, not better. Oliver's mother dies while bringing him into the world; and the sensitive boy is buffeted from the horrific workhouse to being sold to an undertaker and thence into the foul slums of London. He naively falls in with the Artful Dodger and the evil Fagin, fencer of stolen goods and schooler of children in the art of thievery. There is the vicious Bill Sikes and his pathetic lover Nancy, who is kind to Oliver; Mr Bumble the bullying beadle, Mrs Sowerberry and a whole raft of other vivid Dickensian characters. Oliver's story is unforgettable. This is the complete and unabridged text; with illustrations by George Cruikshank from the 1892 and 1897 editions. -
The French Revolution - a time of great change and great danger; a time when injustice was met by a blood-lust for vengeance - and rarely was a distinction made between the innocent and the guilty. This tumultuous historical event is the setting for Dickens' story of unsurpassed adventure and courage. Unjustly imprisoned for 18 years in the Bastille, Dr. Alexandre Manette is reunited with his daughter, Lucie, and safely transported from France to England. It would seem that they could take up the threads of their lives in peace. As fate would have it, the pair are summoned to the Old Bailey to testify against a young Frenchman - Charles Darnay - falsely accused of treason. Yet - strangely enough - Darnay bears an uncanny resemblance to the dissolute lawyer's clerk, Sydney Carton. Can this resemblance save Darnay? Brilliantly plotted, a story rich in drama, romance and bravery.