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Nicholas Nickleby
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Nicholas Nickleby Paperback - 1999

by Charles Dickens; Introduction by Mark Ford; Notes by Mark Ford


About this book

Nicholas Nickleby finds himself penniless after his father's death and turns to his wealthy uncle to help him find work in effort to protect his mother and sister. But Ralph Nickleby proves both hard-hearted and unscrupulous, and Nicholas finds himself forced to navigate  his own way in the world. This adventure gave Dickens the opportunity to portray an extraordinary gallery of rogues and eccentrics: Wackford Squeers, the tyrannical headmaster of Dotheboys Hall, a school for unwanted boys; the slow-witted orphan Smike, rescued by Nicholas; and the gloriously theatrical Mr and Mrs Crummles and their daughter, the 'infant phenomenon'. Like many of Dickens's novels, Nicholas Nickleby is characterised by his outrage at cruelty and social injustice, but is also a lively work, revealing his comic genius at its highest.


Summary

When Nicholas Nickleby is left penniless after his father’s death, he appeals to his wealthy uncle to help him find work and to protect his mother and sister. But Ralph Nickleby proves both hard-hearted and unscrupulous, and Nicholas finds himself forced to make his own way in the world.

Nicholas’s adventures gave Dickens the opportunity to portray a extraordinary gallery of rogues and eccentrics: Wackford Squeers, tyrannical headmaster of Dotheboys Hall, a school for unwanted boys; the slow-witted orphan Smike, rescued by Nicholas; and the gloriously theatrical Mr and Mrs Crummle, and their daughter, the ‘infant phenomenon’. Like many of Dickens’s novels, Nicholas Nickleby is characterized by his outrage at cruelty and social injustice, but it is also a flamboyantly exuberant work, revealing Dickens’s comic genius at its most unerring.

Mark Ford’s introduction compares Nicholas Nickleby to eighteenth-century picaresque novels, and examines Dickens’s criticism of the ‘Yorkshire Schools’, his social satire and use of language. This edition also includes the original illustrations by ‘Phiz’, a chronology and a list for further reading.

From the publisher

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Landport, Portsea, England. He died in Kent on June 9, 1870. The second of eight children of a family continually plagued by debt, the young Dickens came to know not only hunger and privation,but also the horror of the infamous debtors’ prison and the evils of child labor. A turn of fortune in the shape of a legacy brought release from the nightmare of prison and “slave” factories and afforded Dickens the opportunity of two years’ formal schooling at Wellington House Academy. He worked as an attorney’s clerk and newspaper reporter until his Sketches by Boz (1836) and The Pickwick Papers (1837) brought him the amazing and instant success that was to be his for the remainder of his life. In later years, the pressure of serial writing, editorial duties, lectures, and social commitments led to his separation from Catherine Hogarth after twenty-three years of marriage. It also hastened his death at the age of fifty-eight, when he was characteristically engaged in a multitude of work.

First Edition Identification

The story was originally published as a serial from 1838 to 1839 and first published as a book in 1839 by Chapman & Hall, London. The first editions feature 40 engraved plates by Phiz.


Details

  • Title Nicholas Nickleby
  • Author Charles Dickens; Introduction by Mark Ford; Notes by Mark Ford
  • Binding Paperback
  • Edition New Ed
  • Pages 864
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Penguin Group, London/NY.
  • Date 1999-11-01
  • Illustrated Yes
  • Features Table of Contents
  • ISBN 9780140435122 / 0140435123
  • Weight 1.3 lbs (0.59 kg)
  • Dimensions 7.7 x 5.1 x 1.7 in (19.56 x 12.95 x 4.32 cm)
  • Ages 18 to UP years
  • Grade levels 13 - UP
  • Reading level 640
  • Themes
    • Cultural Region: British
  • Library of Congress subjects England, Widows
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 00698638
  • Dewey Decimal Code FIC

About the author

Charles Dickens was born on February 7, 1812, in Landport, Portsea, England. He died in Kent on June 9, 1870. The second of eight children of a family continually plagued by debt, the young Dickens came to know not only hunger and privation, but also the horror of the infamous debtors' prison and the evils of child labor. A turn of fortune in the shape of a legacy brought release from the nightmare of prison and "slave" factories and afforded Dickens the opportunity of two years' formal schooling at Wellington House Academy. He worked as an attorney's clerk and newspaper reporter until his Sketches by Boz (1836) and The Pickwick Papers (1837) brought him the amazing and instant success that was to be his for the remainder of his life. In later years, the pressure of serial writing, editorial duties, lectures, and social commitments led to his separation from Catherine Hogarth after twenty-three years of marriage. It also hastened his death at the age of fifty-eight, when he was characteristically engaged in a multitude of work.

Mark Ford
is currently lecturer at University College, London and writes regularly for the London Review of Books, The Times Literary Supplement and the Guardian.
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Nicholas Nickleby (Penguin Classics)

by Dickens, Charles; Ford, Mark [Editor]; Ford, Mark [Introduction];

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Nicholas Nickleby: Library Edition
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Nicholas Nickleby (Penguin Classics)
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Nicholas Nickleby (Penguin Classics)

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Nicholas Nickleby. [Penguin Classics paperback]
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by Dickens, Charles [Ford, Mark; editor. Browne, Hablot K. (Phiz) illustrator]

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The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby

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by Charles Dickens; Editor-Mark Ford; Contributor-Mark Ford

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