There are few authors whose names can be as immediately identified by a large international public as that of Charles Dickens. Indisputably, to both his own time and all since, he is the greatest literary figure of Victorian England. To many readers, he is equally the English novelist par excellence. Indeed, part of the general significance of Dickens is that he, more than anyone else in the English-speaking world, ensured the triumph of the novel as the most highly regarded and widely read of literary genres, a position it has retained ever since.This edition of Dickens’ major works includes, as a matter of course, all the novels and the most significant shorter fiction (Christmas books and stories, Sketches by Boz, etc.). It also includes two volumes of travel writing, considerable selections from Dickens’ periodical writing, and his entire output of verse. CSP are particularly pleased to include in this edition, by permission of the editor’s estate, the entirety of Prof. Ken Fielding’s edition of Dickens’s speeches, acknowledged as the standard edition but which has now been out of print for over twenty years. The contents of the volumes are as follows:Volume 1 (606 pp.): Introduction to the Works by Prof. Michael Hollington; Sketches by Boz and other sketchesVolume 2 (707 pp.): The Pickwick PapersVolume 3 (774 pp.): Nicholas NicklebyVolume 4 (101 pp.): Master Humphrey’s ClockVolume 5 (507 pp.): The Old Curiosity ShopVolume 6 (600 pp.): Barnaby RudgeVolume 7 (737 pp.): Martin ChuzzlewitVolume 8 (398 pp.): Oliver TwistVolume 9 (754 pp.): Dombey and SonVolume 10 (736 pp.): David CopperfieldVolume 11 (758 pp.): Bleak HouseVolume 12 (255 pp.): Hard TimesVolume 13 (746 pp.): Little DorritVolume 14 (344 pp.): A Tale of Two CitiesVolume 15 (376 pp.): Great ExpectationsVolume 16 (749 pp.): Our Mutual FriendVolume 17 (237 pp.): The Mystery of Edwin DroodVolume 18 (362 pp.): complete Christmas books: A Christmas Carol, The Chimes, The Cricket on the Hearth, The Battle of Life, The Haunted Man and the Ghost’s BargainVolume 19 (631 pp.): complete Christmas stories (including collaborative material)Volume 20 (197 pp.): Reprinted PiecesVolume 21 (232 pp.): Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices, Bardell v. Pickwick, George Silverman’s Explanation, Holiday RomanceVolume 22 (216 pp.): American NotesVolume 23 (148 pp.): Pictures from ItalyVolume 24 (341 pp.): A Child’s History of EnglandVolume 25 (301 pp.): The Uncommercial TravellerVolume 26 (660 pp.): Miscellaneous PapersVolume 27 (416 pp.): Uncollected Writings from Household WordsVolume 28 (503 pp.): Speeches (ed. Ken Fielding)Volume 29 (72 pp.): Poems and VersesAll the texts have been newly typeset for this edition.
