Description

Immediate dispatch from Somerset. Nice older book in good condition. Pages in good condition. Some tanning and marking to cover and cover page but pages are great. 1970 first edition. No notes or highlighting. See images. Fantastic book.

About the book >.>.> IN this book I have concentrated mainly on the period from July to October 1849 when Charles Dickens was writing at Bonchurch in the Isle of Wight Chapters XII to XVIII of the novel David Copperfield. The material in it is based on an article of mine “Dickens at Bonchurch” which was published in The Dickensian (May 1965) but has here been revised and expanded and one or two new theories concerning the originals of characters and scenes in Dickens’s novel have been proffered. Dickens’s earlier short visit to Alum Bay in September 1838 is also men- tioned briefly as well as the possibility of a later one in 1860. The short biography following the preface may be useful to those wishing to orientate themselves in regard to the chief events and dates which are relevant to this book. In order to put the visit to Bonchurch in 1849 and the work done there in perspective I have included an introductory chapter which discusses the first eleven chapters of Copperfield and their autobiographical allusions. The source-material for an account of Dickens’s stay in the Island will of course be found in John Forster’s Life of Charles Dickens The Letters of Charles Dickens edited by Mamie Dickens and Georgina Hogarth and in the three-volume “Nonesuch Edition” of The Letters of Charles Dickens edited by Walter Dexter. But the research for this book was made very much easier by the valued assistance of the former President of the Dickens Fellowship Mr. L. C. Staples Mr. W. J. Carlton of Andover and by Mr. J. Greaves Honorary Secretary of the Dickens Fellowship. Mr. Greaves during a short holiday at Bonchurch in the summer of 1964 was especially helpful with research and between us we attempted to unravel some of the mysteries of the Dick family which seems particularly to have caught the attention of the novelist. While doing so we met or corresponded with many Islanders who assisted us towards our conclusions. Unfortunately there were too many of them for me now to thank individually but I hope I may be forgiven by doing so collectively. (LL)