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Little Dorrit
Stock Photo: Cover May Be Different

Little Dorrit Hardcover - 2008

by Charles Dickens

About this book

Little Dorrit is a serial novel by Charles Dickens published originally between 1855 and 1857. It is a work of satire on the shortcomings of the government and society of the period. Much of Dickens' ire is focused upon the institutions of debtors' prisons & mdash; in which people who owed money were imprisoned, unable to work, until they repaid their debts. The representative prison in this case is the Marshalsea where the author's own father had been imprisoned.


From the publisher

This scarce antiquarian book is included in our special Legacy Reprint Series. In the interest of creating a more extensive selection of rare historical book reprints, we have chosen to reproduce this title even though it may possibly have occasional imperfections such as missing and blurred pages, missing text, poor pictures, markings, dark backgrounds and other reproduction issues beyond our control. Because this work is culturally important, we have made it available as a part of our commitment to protecting, preserving and promoting the world's literature.

First Edition Identification


Bradbury and Evans published a First Editions, First Printing softcover 20 part collection in London, 1855. The 20 parts are bound in 19 blue wrappers designed by Phiz.  With 40 black and white plates, including 8 dark plates, also by Phiz. Housed in a custom marbled slipcase. 


Bradbury and Evans published a First Edition, First Issue hardcover in London, 1857. The book is bound in brown Morocco by Sawyer, with boards double ruled in gilt. Spine is lettered and stamped in gilt as well, with marbled endpapers, and gilt edges. Illustrated by H.K. Browne, with forty inserted plates, including the 8 “dark plates” and the frontispiece and engraved title. The edition was bound from the original monthly parts.


Details

  • Title Little Dorrit
  • Author Charles Dickens
  • Binding Hardcover
  • Pages 852
  • Volumes 1
  • Language ENG
  • Publisher Harry N. Abrams
  • Date 2008-11-26
  • Illustrated Yes
  • ISBN 9781590201282 / 1590201280
  • Weight 3.83 lbs (1.74 kg)
  • Dimensions 10.1 x 7 x 2.4 in (25.65 x 17.78 x 6.10 cm)
  • Ages 09 to 12 years
  • Grade levels 4 - 7
  • Reading level 760
  • Library of Congress subjects London (England), Fathers and daughters
  • Library of Congress Catalog Number 2019295543
  • 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."

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