The Life of Charles Dickens: The Illustrated Edition

As we near the 2012 bi-centenary of Dickens's birth, this lovingly abridged and lavishly illustrated edition of Foster's influential three-volume biography is the perfect way for fans to celebrate. Long out of print, it is now finally accessible to a new generation of Dickens enthusiasts, who will delight in the host of supplemental texts and images, including extracts from the author's own work and from recent criticism. The rich selection of images ranges from original artwork to rare photographs and portraits of Dickens and his circle, along with specially commissioned pictures from the Charles Dickens Museum. 

John Forster's biography of Charles Dickens was the first written, and still is the basis for much of what we know about the author. The two men met in 1837, and Forster soon became Dickens' close friend and adviser. (In fact, Dickens modeled the character of John Podsnap in Our Mutual Friend on Forster.) Forster saw the manuscripts of nearly all of Dickens' novels before publication, and Dickens appointed him as his literary executor. Forster's biography contains many examples of personal correspondence between him and Dickens, and offers unique insight into one of the most influential writers in Western Literature.
 
Holly Furneaux, PhD, teaches at the University of Leicester in the UK and has published several articles on the Victorian novel. She recently co-edited, with Anne Schwan, Dickens and Sex, a collection of essays. She is currently finishing her book Queer Dickens and is on the editorial board for the e-journal “Nineteen: Interdisciplinary Studies in the Long Nineteenth Century,” and is on the central committee for the British Association of Victorian Studies.