Sunday Under Three Heads by Charles Dickens

Transcribed by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk SUNDAY UNDER THREE HEADS DEDICATION To The Right Reverend THE BISHOP OF LONDON MY LORD, You were among the first, some years ago, to expatiate on the vicious addiction of the lower classes of society to Sunday excursions; and were thus instrumental in calling forth occasional demonstrations of those

The Battle of Life by Charles Dickens

The Battle of Life by Charles Dickens Scanned and proofed by David Price email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk The Battle of Life CHAPTER I – Part The First Once upon a time, it matters little when, and in stalwart England, it matters little where, a fierce battle was fought. It was fought upon a long summer day when

The Chimes by Charles Dickens

Transcribed from Charles Scribner’s Sons “Works of Charles Dickens” edition by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk THE CHIMES CHAPTER I–First Quarter. Here are not many people–and as it is desirable that a story- teller and a story-reader should establish a mutual understanding as soon as possible, I beg it to be noticed that I confine this

The Cricket on the Hearth by Charles Dickens

Transcribed from the Charles Scribner’s Sons “Works of Charles Dickens” edition by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk THE CRICKET ON THE HEARTH CHAPTER I–Chirp the First The kettle began it! Don’t tell me what Mrs. Peerybingle said. I know better. Mrs. Peerybingle may leave it on record to the end of time that she couldn’t say

Reprinted Pieces by Charles Dickens

Reprinted Pieces by Charles Dickens Scanned and proofed by David Price ccx074@coventry.ac.uk Reprinted Pieces THE LONG VOYAGE WHEN the wind is blowing and the sleet or rain is driving against the dark windows, I love to sit by the fire, thinking of what I have read in books of voyage and travel. Such books have

The Holly-Tree Inn by Charles Dickens

This etext was prepared from the 1894 Chapman and Hall “Christmas Stories” edition by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk THE HOLLY-TREE–THREE BRANCHES FIRST BRANCH–MYSELF I have kept one secret in the course of my life. I am a bashful man. Nobody would suppose it, nobody ever does suppose it, nobody ever did suppose it, but I

The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices by Charles Dickens

Transcribed from the 1905 edition by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk THE LAZY TOUR OF TWO IDLE APPRENTICES CHAPTER I In the autumn month of September, eighteen hundred and fifty-seven, wherein these presents bear date, two idle apprentices, exhausted by the long, hot summer, and the long, hot work it had brought with it, ran away

The Life And Adventures Of Nicholas Nickleby by Charles Dickens

THE LIFE AND ADVENTURES OF NICHOLAS NICKLEBY, containing a Faithful Account of the Fortunes, Misfortunes, Uprisings, Downfallings and Complete Career of the Nickelby Family by Charles Dickens AUTHOR’S PREFACE This story was begun, within a few months after the publication of the completed “Pickwick Papers.” There were, then, a good many cheap Yorkshire schools in

The Mystery of Edwin Drood by Charles Dickens

Transcribed from the Chapman and Hall, 1914 edition by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk THE MYSTERY OF EDWIN DROOD CHAPTER I–THE DAWN An ancient English Cathedral Tower? How can the ancient English Cathedral tower be here! The well-known massive gray square tower of its old Cathedral? How can that be here! There is no spike of
Interior of The Old Curiosity Shop

The Old Curiosity Shop by Charles Dickens

The Old Curiosity Shop By Charles Dickens CHAPTER 1 Night is generally my time for walking. In the summer I often leave home early in the morning, and roam about fields and lanes all day, or even escape for days or weeks together; but, saving in the country, I seldom go out until after dark,

The Perils of Certain English Prisoners by Charles Dickens and Wilkie Collins

This etext was prepared from the 1894 Chapman and Hall “Christmas Stories” edition by David Price, email ccx074@coventry.ac.uk CHAPTER I–THE ISLAND OF SILVER-STORE It was in the year of our Lord one thousand seven hundred and forty- four, that I, Gill Davis to command, His Mark, having then the honour to be a private in

The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens

The Pickwick papers are our New River Head; and we may be compared to the New River Company. The labours of others have raised for us an immense reservoir of important facts. We merely lay them on, and communicate them, in a clear and gentle stream, through the medium of these pages, to a world thirsting for Pickwickian knowledge.