A collection of Charles Dickens's letters, edited by his sister-in-law and eldest daughter. The first volume spans 1833 to 1856, from the beginning of his literary career onward, arranged chronologically. Published as a supplement to John Forster's biography, it lets Dickens speak in his own voice.
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Text source: gutenberg.org · The work is in the public domain.
Opening of the book
THE LETTERS OF THE LETTERS OF CHARLES DICKENS. EDITED BY HIS SISTER-IN-LAW AND HIS ELDEST DAUGHTER. In Two Volumes. VOL. I. 1833 to 1856. London: CHAPMAN AND HALL, 193, PICCADILLY. 1880. [The Right of Translation is Reserved.] CHARLES DICKENS AND EVANS, CRYSTAL PALACE PRESS.
TO KATE PERUGINI, THIS MEMORIAL OF HER FATHER IS LOVINGLY INSCRIBED BY HER AUNT AND SISTER. PREFACE. We intend this Collection of Letters to be a Supplement to the "Life of Charles Dickens," by John Forster. That work, perfect and exhaustive as a biography, is only incomplete as regards correspondence; the scheme of the book having made it impossible to include in its space any letters, or hardly any, besides those addressed to Mr. Forster. As no man ever expressed himself more in his letters than Charles Dickens, we believe that in publishing this careful selection from his general correspondence we shall be supplying a want which has been universally felt. Our request for the loan of letters was so promptly and fully responded to, that we have been provided with more than sufficient material for our work. By arranging the letters in chronological order, we find that they very frequently explain themselves and form a narrative of the events of each year. Our collection dates from 1833, the commencement of Charles Dickens's literary life, just before the starting of the "Pickwick Papers," and is carried on up to the day before his death, in 1870. We find some difficulty in being quite accurate in the arrangements of letters up to the end of 1839, for he had a careless habit in those days about dating his letters, very frequently putting only the day of the week on which he wrote, curiously in contrast with the habit of his
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