Cosy up for a festive reading bonanza with these heart-warming seasonal tales of Christmas by Charles Dickens. As well as the universally loved 'A Christmas Carol', the collection also includes lesser known treasures such as 'The Chimes', 'The Battle of Life', 'The Haunted Man' and 'The Cricket on the Hearth' all packaged in a beautiful hardback edition with jacket. Dickens was a tireless campaigner for social justice and his empathy with the deserving...

In the depressed mill town of Coketown, schoolmaster Thomas Gradgrind lives to impose his version of education: feeding the mind while starving the soul and spirit. Inflexible and unyielding, he places conformity above curiosity, and logic over sentiment, only to have his philosophy warp and destroy the lives of his own family. 'Hard Times' is Dickens's scathing portrait of Victorian industrial society and its misapplied utilitarian philosophy.

Widely regarded as one of the classics of comic writing in English. In the century and a half since its first appearance, the characters of Mr Pickwick, Sam Weller and the whole of the Pickwickian crew have entered the consciousness of those who love English literature in general, and the works of the author in particular. Originally serialised in monthly installments, it quickly became a huge popular success with sales reaching 40,000 by the final...

A Christmas Carol has gripped the public imagination since it was first published in 1843, and it is now as much a part of the holiday season as is mistletoe or Santa's reindeer. Here is a wonderful collection of Dickens' Christmas stories, graced with many of the original drawings that appeared in the first edition. Pride of place goes to A Christmas Carol, of course, but the book also includes four other marvelous tales: The Chimes, The Cricket...

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...

'If I had my way, every idiot who goes around with Merry Christmas on his lips, would be boiled with his own pudding, and buried with a stake of holly through his heart. Merry Christmas? Bah humbug!' Introduction and Afterword by Joe Wheeler. To bitter, miserly Ebenezer Scrooge, Christmas is just another day. But all that changes when the ghost of his long-dead business partner appears, warning Scrooge to change his ways before it's too late.

In addition to "A Christmas Carol", "The Haunted Man" and a short story from the Pickwick Papers that was the basis for "A Christmas Carol", several of the author's shorter stories celebrating the season, are included. Additionally the editor discusses Dickens' influence on how we celebrate the season, and an appendix on Dickens' use of The Arabian Nights, plus a further reading list and notes.

David Copperfield suffers from his abusive stepfather and the betrayal of the scheming Uriah Heep, finds a new life with his formidable aunt, and falls in love with Dora, as he fights to escape his impoverished and unhappy childhood.

In what may be Dickens's best novel, humble, orphaned Pip is apprenticed to the dirty work of the forge but dares to dream of becoming a gentleman and one day, under sudden and enigmatic circumstances, he finds himself in possession of "great expectations." In this gripping tale of crime and guilt, revenge and reward, the compelling characters include Magwitch, the fearful and fearsome convict; Estella, whose beauty is excelled only by her...

King Watkins the First is proud of his eldest daughter's magical gift, but wonders why she isn't using it.