The Complete Works of Charles Dickens: All 15 novels, short stories, poems and plays

by Charles Dickens

Widely considered the greatest author of the Victorian era, Charles Dickens enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, winning universal praise as a literary genius. Dickens' novels and beloved tales not only entertained the world, but helped to improve the lives of the lower classes and fight social injustices. For the first time in publishing history, this comprehensive eBook presents Dickens' complete works, with hundreds of illustrations and many rare texts.
This ebook contains Dickens' complete works in a new, easy-to-read and easy-to-navigate format. With this beautiful Collectible Edition, you can enjoy Dickens' enduring literary legacy again and again.

This collection features the following
VOLUME 1: ALL NOVELS
A Tale of Two Cities
Barnaby Rudge
Bleak House
David Copperfield
Dombey and Son
Great Expectations
Hard Times
Little Dorrit
Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit
Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby
The Mystery of Edwin Drood
The Old Curiosity Shop
Oliver Twist
Our Mutual Friend
The Pickwick Papers

VOLUME 2
Novellas
Short Stories
Poems and Plays
Letters, Articles & Essays

17331 pages, Kindle Edition

Published August 25, 2016

About the author

Charles John Huffam Dickens (1812-1870) was a writer and social critic who created some of the world's best-known fictional characters and is regarded as the greatest novelist of the Victorian era. His works enjoyed unprecedented popularity during his lifetime, and by the twentieth century critics and scholars had recognised him as a literary genius. His novels and short stories enjoy lasting popularity.

Dickens left school to work in a factory when his father was incarcerated in a debtors' prison. Despite his lack of formal education, he edited a weekly journal for 20 years, wrote 15 novels, five novellas, hundreds of short stories and non-fiction articles, lectured and performed extensively, was an indefatigable letter writer, and campaigned vigorously for children's rights, education, and other social reforms.

Dickens was regarded as the literary colossus of his age. His 1843 novella, A Christmas Carol, remains popular and continues to inspire adaptations in every artistic genre. Oliver Twist and Great Expectations are also frequently adapted, and, like many of his novels, evoke images of early Victorian London. His 1859 novel, A Tale of Two Cities, set in London and Paris, is his best-known work of historical fiction. Dickens's creative genius has been praised by fellow writers—from Leo Tolstoy to George Orwell and G. K. Chesterton—for its realism, comedy, prose style, unique characterisations, and social criticism. On the other hand, Oscar Wilde, Henry James, and Virginia Woolf complained of a lack of psychological depth, loose writing, and a vein of saccharine sentimentalism. The term Dickensian is used to describe something that is reminiscent of Dickens and his writings, such as poor social conditions or comically repulsive characters.

On 8 June 1870, Dickens suffered another stroke at his home after a full day's work on Edwin Drood. He never regained consciousness, and the next day he died at Gad's Hill Place. Contrary to his wish to be buried at Rochester Cathedral "in an inexpensive, unostentatious, and strictly private manner," he was laid to rest in the Poets' Corner of Westminster Abbey. A printed epitaph circulated at the time of the funeral reads: "To the Memory of Charles Dickens (England's most popular author) who died at his residence, Higham, near Rochester, Kent, 9 June 1870, aged 58 years. He was a sympathiser with the poor, the suffering, and the oppressed; and by his death, one of England's greatest writers is lost to the world." His last words were: "On the ground", in response to his sister-in-law Georgina's request that he lie down.

(from Wikipedia)

Reviews

[Critical Sandwich]

I sometimes do "randomizer pick" when choosing my next read, and I DON'T have classics books by big authors on goodreads TBR (cuz otherwise my TBR would be ~200 books higher), so I put a few of these "Complete Works" onto TBR so they'd have a chance to be chosen by randomizer, but I'd still have the freedom to choose whatever work.

[John Geary · Rating 1 out of 5]

I’ve just started reading this – my first on a Kindle reader – and discovered that the short story “Message from the Sea“ has two of the chapters missing - simply because Dickens did not write them. The book was a collaboration between Dickens and his friend Wilkie Collins and apparently Collins wrote these two chapters that were left out of this Kindle edition.
I feel really ripped off that they didn’t include the entire story. This makes me wonder if I should buy any more books on Kindle, if this is what happens.