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The Dickens Concordance, Being a Compendium of Names and Characters and Principal Places Mentioned in all the Works of Charles Dickens ..
This work has been selected by scholars as being culturally important, and is part of the knowledge base of civilization as we know it. This work was reproduced from the original artifact, and remains as true to the original work as possible. Therefore, you will see the original copyright references, library stamps (as most of these works have been housed in our most important libraries around the world), and other notations in the work.This work is in the public domain in the United States of America, and possibly other nations. Within the United States, you may freely copy and distribute this work, as no entity (individual or corporate) has a copyright on the body of the work.As a reproduction of a historical artifact, this work may contain missing or blurred pages, poor pictures, errant marks, etc. Scholars believe, and we concur, that this work is important enough to be preserved, reproduced, and made generally available to the public. We appreciate your support of the preservation process, and thank you for being an important part of keeping this knowledge alive and relevant.
180 pages, Hardcover
First published January 1, 1907
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Mary Williams
220 books4 followersLibrarian Note: There is more than one author in the GoodReads database with this name.
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January 2, 2025
The subtitle of The Dickens Concordance is “Being A Compendium of Names and Characters and Principal Places Mentioned in All the Works of Charles Dickens”.
Would this be useful, I wondered? Since I already have a Dickens Dictionary, a Dickens Encyclopaedia (which is actually very similar), a Dickens Index, 2 Dickens Companions, not to mention about a dozen Dickens biographies, plus various general overviews, books of critical essays and books about different aspects of Dickens’s writing, I doubted whether another type of index would be useful. However, this one is.
The book is a slim paperback: a slightly enlarged facsimile of the 1909 edition, which means that the entries are nice and clear to read. It is a straightforward concordance, without any supplementary information - such as passages from the texts - whatsoever. It does not attempt to be anything more than a simple list of names and places to jog the memory, and I can see that it is going to be very useful.
Part 1 is A List of the Works of Charles Dickens spread over 3 pages. The main works (both fiction and nonfiction) are listed first, in capital letters, chronologically with the year(s) published at the end of each title. (There is no heading.) This format is used for all the sections which follow i.e. under these headings:
Miscellaneous Papers and Christmas Stories
Plays
Contributions to The Christmas Numbers of Household Words and All the Year Round
Reprinted Pieces
Christmas Books
These 3 short pages would be of benefit to anyone who considers Dickens as primarily a novelist, as there is no section headed “novels”. The early works here do not conform to what we now expect from a novel. They may be episodic, or observational pieces rather than fiction, or a serial with an imposed novel structure as it proceeds. 1909 is much closer to when Dickens was writing - just 39 years after his death - and so there are no 21st century publishers slotting his works into their genres. Interestingly, the modern consensus of 15 novels is not always adhered to. Also, this list makes it clear that even Dickens’s later solid novels are merely one part of his vast output. The journalism, travelogues and collaborations are just as important.
Part 2 is described on the title page as A Summary of Chapters in each book (or pamphlet). However when we look at Part 2 the title is now List of Characters and Places in the Order of the Books. I found both of these titles rather ambiguous, if not to say misleading! There is no summary, or précis; it is a complete list of chapters by number.
This is what we actually have:
The title and date of each work in the preceding list, as the heading (in block capitals). This is followed by the numbered chapters in italics, each new chapter starting a new line. Each chapter number (without its title, as these are frequently very long!) then lists the characters in their order of first appearance, and sometimes the locations ditto, in lower case letters.
It is extremely easy to use, and invaluable if one can remember a name, but needs a reminder as to exactly where that name first occurred. With Dickens’s profligacy of characters, names are sometimes difficult to attribute to the right text, but a quick flip through would easily confirm or deny whether they belong to a certain work.
For instance the entry for “The Pickwick Papers” runs to 4 pages, even though they are written across the page (i.e. a new line is not started for each character). Since it includes “and others” or “and family” etc. it is a clear indication to anyone who is doubtful that the number of characters with their own cameos in this work is well over a hundred. (Incidentally “The Pickwick Papers” is generally agreed to be the first Dickens novel, although it is an episodic series of sketches, more like a collection of linked stories, and to call it even a “composite novel” is a stretch!)
However I have never come across the information presented in quite this way before, and this is the section which may prove most useful to me personally. Part 2 is 55 pages long. Although the book is paginated, the page numbers are oddly not indicated on the title page.
3. Part 3 is a Complete Alphabetical Index. It comprises a list of names (of characters) with the title of the book followed by the number of the first chapter in which they appear. This is the section one most expects to see in any Dickens Dictionary, so it will be interesting to see how “complete” it is, compared with others.
The Dickens Concordance is published by Forgotten Books, and well worth considering adding to your personal reference library if you ever wish to quickly check names and places in Dickens’s works.
(Thank you for your original discovery this Christmas, Chris!)
Would this be useful, I wondered? Since I already have a Dickens Dictionary, a Dickens Encyclopaedia (which is actually very similar), a Dickens Index, 2 Dickens Companions, not to mention about a dozen Dickens biographies, plus various general overviews, books of critical essays and books about different aspects of Dickens’s writing, I doubted whether another type of index would be useful. However, this one is.
The book is a slim paperback: a slightly enlarged facsimile of the 1909 edition, which means that the entries are nice and clear to read. It is a straightforward concordance, without any supplementary information - such as passages from the texts - whatsoever. It does not attempt to be anything more than a simple list of names and places to jog the memory, and I can see that it is going to be very useful.
Part 1 is A List of the Works of Charles Dickens spread over 3 pages. The main works (both fiction and nonfiction) are listed first, in capital letters, chronologically with the year(s) published at the end of each title. (There is no heading.) This format is used for all the sections which follow i.e. under these headings:
Miscellaneous Papers and Christmas Stories
Plays
Contributions to The Christmas Numbers of Household Words and All the Year Round
Reprinted Pieces
Christmas Books
These 3 short pages would be of benefit to anyone who considers Dickens as primarily a novelist, as there is no section headed “novels”. The early works here do not conform to what we now expect from a novel. They may be episodic, or observational pieces rather than fiction, or a serial with an imposed novel structure as it proceeds. 1909 is much closer to when Dickens was writing - just 39 years after his death - and so there are no 21st century publishers slotting his works into their genres. Interestingly, the modern consensus of 15 novels is not always adhered to. Also, this list makes it clear that even Dickens’s later solid novels are merely one part of his vast output. The journalism, travelogues and collaborations are just as important.
Part 2 is described on the title page as A Summary of Chapters in each book (or pamphlet). However when we look at Part 2 the title is now List of Characters and Places in the Order of the Books. I found both of these titles rather ambiguous, if not to say misleading! There is no summary, or précis; it is a complete list of chapters by number.
This is what we actually have:
The title and date of each work in the preceding list, as the heading (in block capitals). This is followed by the numbered chapters in italics, each new chapter starting a new line. Each chapter number (without its title, as these are frequently very long!) then lists the characters in their order of first appearance, and sometimes the locations ditto, in lower case letters.
It is extremely easy to use, and invaluable if one can remember a name, but needs a reminder as to exactly where that name first occurred. With Dickens’s profligacy of characters, names are sometimes difficult to attribute to the right text, but a quick flip through would easily confirm or deny whether they belong to a certain work.
For instance the entry for “The Pickwick Papers” runs to 4 pages, even though they are written across the page (i.e. a new line is not started for each character). Since it includes “and others” or “and family” etc. it is a clear indication to anyone who is doubtful that the number of characters with their own cameos in this work is well over a hundred. (Incidentally “The Pickwick Papers” is generally agreed to be the first Dickens novel, although it is an episodic series of sketches, more like a collection of linked stories, and to call it even a “composite novel” is a stretch!)
However I have never come across the information presented in quite this way before, and this is the section which may prove most useful to me personally. Part 2 is 55 pages long. Although the book is paginated, the page numbers are oddly not indicated on the title page.
3. Part 3 is a Complete Alphabetical Index. It comprises a list of names (of characters) with the title of the book followed by the number of the first chapter in which they appear. This is the section one most expects to see in any Dickens Dictionary, so it will be interesting to see how “complete” it is, compared with others.
The Dickens Concordance is published by Forgotten Books, and well worth considering adding to your personal reference library if you ever wish to quickly check names and places in Dickens’s works.
(Thank you for your original discovery this Christmas, Chris!)
February 1, 2021
Mary Williams' book is an invaluable reference book for all Dickens collectors and readers.
It uses an easily understandable formula and is divided into three parts as follows: Part One A List of the Works of Charles Dickens; Part Two A List of Characters and Places in the Order of the Books; Part Three A Complete Alphabetical List [of the characters].
Now that might sound quite boring but I would love to have had it to hand when I read and tried to answer some of the questions in 'The Charles Dickens Quiz Book' that I added to goodreads recently!
I suppose it is rather strange to say that I enjoyed reading lists of characters and places but it does remind the reader of the books and how enjoyable they are.
It uses an easily understandable formula and is divided into three parts as follows: Part One A List of the Works of Charles Dickens; Part Two A List of Characters and Places in the Order of the Books; Part Three A Complete Alphabetical List [of the characters].
Now that might sound quite boring but I would love to have had it to hand when I read and tried to answer some of the questions in 'The Charles Dickens Quiz Book' that I added to goodreads recently!
I suppose it is rather strange to say that I enjoyed reading lists of characters and places but it does remind the reader of the books and how enjoyable they are.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews