well read - Dickens 2012
Written by Karen Martin
Widely regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era, Charles Dickens’s writing transcends time, language, and culture. His popular stories and characters continue to influence film, TV, art, and literature to this day.
Dickens 2012 is an international celebration of the life and work of Charles Dickens to mark the 200th anniversary of his birth. Institutions and organisations from all over the world have partnered with Dickens 2012 to deliver a programme of events and activities to commemorate this special bicentenary.
Until December 21, the Camden Local Studies and Archives Centre, London, is celebrating the 200th anniversary with a free exhibition of photographs, illustrations, and archives from its collection. Dickens lived much of his life in this part of London; many of his characters live there, many of his scenes are set there, and his writing, both fictional and factual, contains a multitude of descriptions of the area as it was in his day.
Charles Dickens: A Life
By Claire Tomalin
Charles Dickens was a phenomenon: a hard-working journalist and the father of ten children, but most of all a great novelist – the creator of characters who are immortalised in the English imagination: the Artful Dodger, Mr Pickwick, Pip, David Copperfield, Little Nell, Lady Dedlock, and many more. From unpromising beginnings, Dickens rose to scale all the social and literary heights, entirely through his own efforts. Claire Tomalin paints an unforgettable portrait of Dickens, capturing the complex character of this great genius.
Selected Works of Charles Dickens
By Charles Dickens
The Folio Society has created five new editions based on the celebrated 1930s Nonesuch editions, with original illustrations by artists including Dickens’s long-term collaborator ‘Phiz’. Each volume features an introduction from an esteemed writer. They also feature individual new binding designs, with a quote from the novel blocked in gold foil on the front. The five featured books are: Christmas Books, Great Expectations, Bleak House, The Pickwick Papers, and David Copperfield.
The Folio Society
The Life of Charles Dickens
By John Forster
John Forster’s biography of Charles Dickens was the first written, and is still the basis for much of what we know about the author. The two men met in 1837, and Forster soon became Dickens’s close friend and adviser. Long out of print, Forster's influential three-volume biography is now finally accessible as this abridged and lavishly illustrated edition. The images range from original artwork to rare photographs and portraits, along with pictures from the Charles Dickens Museum.
Major Works of Charles Dickens (Boxed Set)
By Charles Dickens
To celebrate the 200th anniversary of the birth of Charles Dickens, Penguin has published six of his works in this exclusive boxed set of cloth-bound editions, designed by Penguin’s award-winning Coralie Bickford-Smith. These collectible editions are bound in high-quality colourful cloth with foil stamped into the design. The six novels included in the set are: Great Expectations, Hard Times, Oliver Twist, A Christmas Carol, Bleak House, and A Tale of Two Cities.
By Tony Lynch
Published to coincide with the 2012 Dickens bicentenary celebrations, Dickens’s England details the towns, villages, streets, and buildings with connections to Dickens’s life and explores the fascinating landscape of his imagination. It brings to life Mr Pickwick’s Bath, David Copperfield’s Yarmouth, Nicholas Nickleby’s Yorkshire, the Kent of Great Expectations, and the London of Oliver Twist and Bill Sikes. A fascinating A–Z tour of England that brings to life all the places associated with Charles Dickens.
Distance: 5,219 km
Flight Time: 7 hours, 35 minutes
Frequency: 5 flights a day