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Tomalin, Claire : Charles Dickens: A Life

Penguin Press, New York, 2011

ISBN 9781594203091

Fine copy in fine dust jacket, 8vo, 527 pp.

1st

Tomalin, Claire : Charles Dickens: A Life

Viking, London, 2011

ISBN 9780670917679

240mm. x 160mm.. xlvii., 527 pages, b/w illustrations, , maaps, illustrated endpapers, cast list, bibliography. Minor wear, unmarked. [763]. Book. Book Condition: Very Good. Binding: Illustrated Boards. Jacket: Very Good

First Edition.

TOMALIN**, CLAIRE: : Charles Dickens: A Life

LONDON.VIKING/PENGUIN,2011.

ISBN 9780670917679.

UK,thick 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.[Complete number line 1.] FINE+/FINE.No owner inscrptn and no price-clip to dw/dj.Bright,crisp,clean,glossy laminated,colour photographic illustrated dw/dj with white lettering; with negligible shelf-wear or creasing to edges and corners - no nicks or tears present.Top+fore-edges bright and clean; contents bright,tight,clean,solid and sound - pristine - no dog-ear reading creases to any pages' corners,appears unread - apart from my own collation.Bright,crisp,clean,sharp-cornered, publisher's original subject's sepia portrait photographic illustrated paper-covered boards with subject's facsimile signature in bright, crisp,blocked gilt letters to bottom edge, similar gilt letters to spine/backstrip,and similar gilt lettered critics' reviews to white background to rear panel,a pale yellow headband and immaculate endpapers with period Dickensian characters' colour illustrations.Dw/dj in form of wrap-around half band without a price-clip.UK,8vo HB+ dw/dj,1st edn,x-xlvii(47)pp+4- 527pp [paginated] includes verso of contents list/table,3pp illustrations list/table,double-page b/w map Gad's Hill & Rochester environs, double-page b/w illustrated street map/plan of Dickens in central London with a similar street map/plan of Dickens in north London to verso, Keys to maps,a Cast list,author's prologue,Pts 1 - 3 comprising 7,12 and 8 chapters respectively, 24pp contemporary b/w reproduction illustrations and auto+biographical photographs in 3 blocks of 8pp apiece,between pp112/13,pp240/41 and pp368/69 respectively,further contemporary b/w reproduction and facsimile illustrations interspersed throughout the text and the book, Notes,a select bibliography,acknowledgements and an index; plus [unpaginated] half-title+title pages,a dedication,epigrams/quotations,verso of contents list/table,recto of illustrations list/table,aforementioned b/w maps also unpaginated,as is verso's of maps' keys and Cast list and Pts separator pages and recto of last page. Charles Dickens was a phenomenon.Perhaps the greatest novelist in the English language,he was the creator of characters who live immortally in the English imagination: Mr. Pickwick,the Artful Dodger,Mrs. Gamp,Mr. Micawber,Pip,Miss Haversham and many more.He was also a demonically hard-working journalist,father of ten children, indefatigable walker and traveller,and tireless in his support of liberal social causes. At the age of twelve he was sent to work in a blacking factory by his affectionate but feckless parents.By the time of his death in 1870 he drew adoring crowds to his public appearances,had met princes and presidents,and had amassed a fortune.He was truly 'the inimitable',as he half-jokingly described himself.When he died,the world mourned,and he was buried - against his wishes - in Westminster Abbey. The energy and brilliance concealed a complex and divided character.A republican,he took strongly against America when he visited the country; sentimental about the family in his writings,he cast his wife into outer darkness after taking up with a young actress; often generous with his time and money,he cut off his more impecunious children and siblings.After his death his own daughter wrote to Bernard Shaw,'If you could make the public understand that my father was not a joyous,jocose gentleman walking about the world with a plum pudding and a bowl of punch,you would greatly oblige me.' 'Charles Dickens: A Life' is the examination of Dickens we deserve.It gives full measure to his heroic stature - his huge virtues both as writer and as a human being - while observing his failings in both respects with an understanding but unblinking eye.Twenty years ago Claire Tomalin's award-winning 'The Invisible Woman' convincingly traced the relationship between Dickens and Nelly Terman in a triumph of sympathetic scholarship.Now she has written a full-scale biography worthy of Dickens's own pen: a comedy that turns to tragedy as the very qualities that made him great - his indomitable energy,boldness, imagination,showmanship and enjoyment of fame - finally destroyed him. Want more DICKENS-related titles? For similar and other available titles use keywords q52_Charles Dickens - or please search my BIOGRAPHY,GENERAL and SIGNED catalogues. Please contact seller,because of the weight/value of this item for correct, insured shipping/P+p quotes - particularly ALL overseas buyers - BEFORE ordering through the order page! ** N.B. ALL buyers please note,stocks' actual shipping/P+p costs are adjusted and any difference is refunded,after order's receipt and before the order's despatch,especially if the item(s) are offered either P+p included/FREE. ** N.B. US/Canada customers please be aware: Standard AIRMAIL postage from UK to these destinations can now cost more than the price of the book! If speed is not of the essence,then Economy rate is recommended - at approx. anything from a 1/3rd to 1/2 of the standard AIR quote/rate - sometimes arriving sooner than the 42 days - but not always.

UK,thick 8vo HB+dw/dj,1st edn.
Not SIGNED.

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