The Old Curiosity Shop

Pleasantville, NY: The Reader's Digest Association, Inc, 1988. 1st Edition Thus. Hardcover_buckram spine. Near Fine. Browne, Hablot K. "Phiz"; Cattermole, George; and others.. 6.4"x9.25" 525 numbered pgs. Maroon buckram over silver leatherette boards. Maroon letters on front and gold foil letters on spine. Includes Reader's Digest The World's Best Reading pamphlet. Afterword George Cattermole. Spine straight, sewn binding tight, pages clean and bright. Not x-library, Book plate inside front board, no DJ. Secure ship w/track #. Little Nell Trent lives in the quiet gloom of the old curiosity shop with her ailing grandfather, for whom she cares with selfless devotion. But when they are unable to pay their debts to the stunted, lecherous and demonic money-lender Daniel Quilp, the shop is seized and they are forced to flee, thrown into a shadowy world in which there seems to be no safe haven. Dickens's portrayal of the innocent, tragic Nell made The Old Curiosity Shop an instant bestseller that captured the hearts of the nation, even as it was criticised for its sentimentality by figures such as Oscar Wilde. Yet alongside the story's pathos are some of Dickens's greatest comic and grotesque creations: the ne'er-do-well Dick Swiveller, the mannish lawyer Sally Brass, the half-starved 'Marchioness' and the lustful, loathsome Quilp himself. Charles Dickens is one of the best-loved novelists in the English language, whose 200th anniversary was celebrated in 2012. His most famous books, including Oliver Twist, Great Expectations, A Tale of Two Cities, David Copperfield and The Pickwick Papers, have been adapted for stage and screen and read by millions.