Commonly hailed as his masterpiece and his own personal favourite, Dickens’s novel David Copperfield was first published as a serial in 1849-50 and as a book in 1850. The story revolves around the titular character and spans his growth from infancy to maturity, chronicling the people and places of his life as he develops as a person. A must-read for fans of Dickens’s work and well deserving of a place on every bookshelf. Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was an English writer and social critic famous for having created some of the world’s most well-known fictional characters. His works became unprecedentedly popular during his life, and today he is commonly regarded as the greatest Victorian-era novelist. Although perhaps better known for such works as Oliver Twist or A Christmas Carol , Dickens first gained success with the 1836 serial publication of The Pickwick Papers , which turned him almost overnight into an international literary celebrity thanks to his humour, satire, and astute observations concerning society and character. This classic work is being republished now in a new edition complete with an introductory chapter from Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens by G. K. Chesterton.