A Tale of Two Cities Mass market paperbound - 1989

About this book

From the jacket flap

With his sublime parting words, "It is a far, far better thing that I do, than I have ever done..." Sidney Carton joins that exhalted group of Dickensian characters who have earned a permanent place in the popular literary imagination. His dramatic story, set against the volcanic fury of the French Revolution and pervaded by the ominous rumble of the death carts trundling toward the guillotine, is the heart-stirring tale of a heroic soul in an age gone mad. A masterful pageant of idealism, love, and adventure -- in a Paris bursting with revolutionary frenzy, and a London alive with anxious anticipation -- "A Tale of Two Cities is one of Dickens's most energetic and exciting works.

First Edition Identification

A Tale of Two Cities was first published in 31 weekly installments in a journal called All the Year Round between April and November of 1859, and published in a book form in the same year. The publisher of the first book edition was Chapman and Hall, based in London. Original illustrations were done by H. K. Browne on 16 plates inserted into the book. The first edition is a hardcover, octavo book with maroon cloth covers. However, some first editions have had the binding refurbished. A key way to identify first editions of A Tale of Two Cities is that page 213 is misnumbered as “113.” Additionally, affectionately is misspelled as “affetcionately” on line 12, page 134. Finally, the signature “b” is present on the list of plate illustrations.

Media reviews

“[A Tale of Two Cities] has the best of Dickens and the worst of Dickens: a dark, driven opening, and a celestial but melodramatic ending; a terrifyingly demonic villainess and (even by Dickens’ standards) an impossibly angelic heroine. Though its version of the French Revolution is brutally simplified, its engagement with the immense moral themes of rebirth and terror, justice, and sacrifice gets right to the heart of the matter . . . For every reader in the past hundred and forty years and for hundreds to come, it is an unforgettable ride.”–from the Introduction by Simon Schama