'His characters are marvellous, his insights wonderful ... You don't expect reality but you get something bigger and better' Ruth Rendell The Old Curiosity Shop was an instant bestseller that, even while it was criticized for its sentimentality, captured the hearts of the nation with its portrayal of little Nell Trent, who is thrown into a terrifying world when her beloved grandfather is unable to pay his debts to the loathsome Quilp. Alongside the pathos of the innocent, tragic Nell are some of Dickens's greatest characters: the ne'er-do'well Dick Swiveller, the mannish lawyer Sally Brass, the half-starved 'Marchioness' and the lustful Quilp himself, a creation of demonic power and cruelty. Edited with an Introduction and Notes by Norman Page
The Old Curiosity Shop is one of two novels (the other being Barnaby Rudge) which Charles Dickens published along with short stories in his weekly serial Master Humphrey's Clock, from 1840 to 1841. It was so popular that New York readers stormed the wharf when the ship bearing the final installment arrived in 1841.The Old Curiosity Shop was printed in book form in 1841.
This historic book may have numerous typos, missing text or index. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. 1861. Not illustrated. Excerpt: ... "There was him and her," said the small servant, " a sittin' by the fire, and talking softly together. Mr. Brass says to Miss Sally, 'Upon my word, ' he says, 'it's a dangerous thing, and it might get us into a world of trouble, and I don't half like it.' She says--you know her way--she says, ' You're the chickenest-hearted, feeblest, faintest man I ever see, and I think, ' she says, 'that I ought to have been the brother, and you the sister. Isn't Quilp, ' she says, 'our principal support?' 'He certainly is, ' says Mr. Brass. 'And a'n't we, ' she says, 'constantly ruining somebody or other in the way of business?' 'We certainly are, ' says Mr. Brass. 'Then does it signify, ' she says, 'about ruining this Kit when Quilp desires it?' 'It certainly does not signify, ' says Mr. Brass. Then, they whispered and laughed for a long time about there being no danger if it was well done, and then Mr. Brass pulls out his pocket-book, and says, 'Well, ' he says, 'here it is--Quilp's own fivepound note. We'll agree that way then, ' he says. 'Kit's coming to-morrow morning, ' I know. While he's upstairs, you'll get out of the way, and I'll clear off Mr. Richard. Having Kit alone, I'll hold him in conversation, and pat this property in his hat. I'll manage so, besides, ' he says, 'that Mr. Richard shall find it there, and be the evidence. And if that don't get Christopher out of Mr. Quilp's way, and satisfy Mr. Quilp's grudges, ' he says, 'the Devil's in it.' Miss Sally laughed, and said that was the plan, and as they seemed to be moving away, and I was afraid to stop any longer, I went downstairs again.--There!" The small servant had gradually worked herself into as much agitation as Mr. Swiveller, and therefore made no effort to restrain him when he sat up in bed and hastily demanded whe...
It is impossible to overstate the importance of British novelist CHARLES DICKENS (1812-1870) not only to literature in the English language, but to Western civilization on the whole. He is arguably the first fiction writer to have become an international celebrity. He popularized episodic fiction and the cliffhanger, which had a profound influence on the development of film and television. He is entirely responsible for the popular image of Victorian London that still lingers today, and his characters-from Oliver Twist to Ebenezer Scrooge, from Miss Havisham to Uriah Heep-have become not merely iconic, but mythic. But it was his stirring portraits of ordinary people-not the upper classes or the aristocracy-and his fervent cries for social, moral, and legal justice for the working poor, and in particular for poor children, in the grim early decades of the Industrial Revolution that powerfully impacted social concerns well into the 20th century. Without Charles Dickens, we may never have seen the likes of Sherlock Holmes, Upton Sinclair, or even Bob Dylan. Here, in 30 beautiful volumes-complete with all the original illustrations-is every published word written by one of the most important writers ever. The essential collector's set will delight anyone who cherishes English literature...and who takes pleasure in constantly rediscovering its joys. This volume contains Part I of The Old Curiosity Shop, which was originally serialized in Dickens's own periodical, Master Humphrey's Clock, in 1840 and 1841. The story of the orphan Nell Trent, who lives with her grandfather in the establishment by which the book takes its name, it is both beloved and disparaged for Dickens's treatment of, as Oscar Wilde famously termed it, "the death of little Nell," the suspense surrounding which was comparable to the Harry Potter phenomenon of today.
