The Letters of Charles Dickens: Complete Set of Twelve Volumes (Dickens: Letters Pilgrim Edition)

Dickens was a prolific letter-writer, who wrote to a vast number of correspondents. His best letters are memorable, reflecting the extraordinary range of his interests, his energy and the fusion of the serious and comic which distinguishes everything he wrote. Many letters to his closest friend, and biographer, John Forster, are a running commentary of the planning and writing of his novels, but there are letters to other friends which also throw light on his writing. These, and others, are included in this title, which offers 12 volumes in one. Review "The editors have done a miraculous job in the face of such an embarrassment of riches, and as a result they have set an example of literary scholarship to which all of us may aspire." "It teems with...lovely squiggles of detail. At times we seem to breathe the very air of mid-Victorian London....It confirms what the Pilgrim editors should never tire of hearing, that this is one of the great undertakings of modern scholarship." Praise for the series and individual volumes: "The editors have done a miraculous job in the face of such an embarrassment of riches, and as a result they have set an example of literary scholarship to which all of us may aspire."--Peter Ackroyd, The Times, (London) "It teems with...lovely squiggles of detail. At times we seem to breathe the very air of mid-Victorian London.... It confirms what the Pilgrim editors should never tire of hearing, that this is one of the great undertakings of modern scholarship."--Anthony Quinn, Observer "What distinguishes the Pilgrim edition is that it is enormous fun to read. Its bulging footnotes expose the whole cavalcade of Victorian life, the scandals and personalities, the circuses, theatres, fashions, politics and crimes, the social sweep from slum to palace. But most captivating of all is Dickens's personality, which fizzes and sparkles on every page.... Like its predecessors, this new volume of the Pilgrim edition is a model of imaginative scholarship."--John Carey, Sunday Times "[A] towering and meticulously edited series, which every learned library, every literary historian, must find indispensable."--Alethea Hayter, Times Literary Supplement "Each volume of this edition wins acclaim as it appears, and it is right that it should do so. Kathleen Tillotson, Graham Storey and their team are deserving of every word of praise accorded to them for their meticulous and wide-ranging research."--Claire Tomalin, London Review of Books Praise for the series and individual volumes: "The editors have done a miraculous job in the face of such an embarrassment of riches, and as a result they have set an example of literary scholarship to which all of us may aspire."--Peter Ackroyd, The Times, (London) "It teems with...lovely squiggles of detail. At times we seem to breathe the very air of mid-Victorian London.... It confirms what the Pilgrim editors should never tire of hearing, that this is one of the great undertakings of modern scholarship."--Anthony Quinn, Observer "What distinguishes the Pilgrim edition is that it is enormous fun to read. Its bulging footnotes expose the whole cavalcade of Victorian life, the scandals and personalities, the circuses, theatres, fashions, politics and crimes, the social sweep from slum to palace. But most captivating of all is Dickens's personality, which fizzes and sparkles on every page.... Like its predecessors, this new volume of the Pilgrim edition is a model of imaginative scholarship."--John Carey, Sunday Times "[A] towering and meticulously edited series, which every learned library, every literary historian, must find indispensable."--Alethea Hayter, Times Literary Supplement "Each volume of this edition wins acclaim as it appears, and it is right that it should do so. Kathleen Tillotson, Graham Storey and their team are deserving of every word of praise accorded to them for their meticulous and wide-ranging research."--Claire Tomalin, London R