Nicholas Nickleby Introduction by John Carey

(Book Jacket Status: Not Jacketed) Introduction by John Carey

Charles Dickens was born in a little house in Landport, Portsea, England, on February 7, 1812. The second of eight children, he grew up in a family frequently beset by financial insecurity. At age eleven, Dickens was taken out of school and sent to work in London backing warehouse, where his job was to paste labels on bottles for six shillings a week. His father John Dickens, was a warmhearted but improvident man. When he was condemned the Marshela Prison for unpaid debts, he unwisely agreed that Charles should stay in lodgings and continue working while the rest of the family joined him in jail. This three-month separation caused Charles much pain; his experiences as a child alone in a huge city–cold, isolated with barely enough to eat–haunted him for the rest of his life.

When the family fortunes improved, Charles went back to school, after which he became an office boy, a freelance reporter and finally an author. With Pickwick Papers (1836-7) he achieved immediate fame; in a few years he was easily the post popular and respected writer of his time. It has been estimated that one out of every ten persons in Victorian England was a Dickens reader. Oliver Twist (1837), Nicholas Nickleby (1838-9) and The Old Curiosity Shop (1840-41) were huge successes. Martin Chuzzlewit (1843-4) was less so, but Dickens followed it with his unforgettable, A Christmas Carol (1843), Bleak House (1852-3), Hard Times (1854) and Little Dorrit (1855-7) reveal his deepening concern for the injustices of British Society. A Tale of Two Cities (1859), Great Expectations (1860-1) and Our Mutual Friend (1864-5) complete his major works.

Dickens's marriage to Catherine Hoggarth produced ten children but ended in separation in 1858. In that year he began a series of exhausting public readings; his health gradually declined. After putting in a full day's work at his home at Gads Hill, Kent on June 8, 1870, Dickens suffered a stroke, and he died the following day.

Acknowledgements	p. v
Introduction	p. xiii
A Chronology Of Charles Dickens	p. xxxii
Preface (1839)	p. xlix
Preface (1848)	p. lii
Introduces All the Rest	p. 1
Of Mr. Ralph Nickleby, and His Establishment, and His Undertakings. and of a Great Joint Stock Company of Vast National Importance	p. 6
Mr. Ralph Nickleby Receives Sad Tidings of His Brother, but Bears Up Nobly Against the Intelligence Communicated to Him. The Reader is Informed How He Liked Nicholas, Who is Herein Introduced And How Kindly He Proposed to Make His Fortune at Once	p. 18
Nicholas and His Uncle (to Secure the Fortune Without Loss of Time)Wait Upon Mr. Wackford Squeers, the Yorkshire Schoolmaster	p. 29
Nicholas Starts for Yorkshire. of His Leave-Taking and His Fellow-Travellers, and What Befell Them on the Road	p. 42
In Which the Occurrence of the Accident Mentioned in the Last Chapter, Affords an Opportunity to a Couple of Gentlemen to Tell Stories Against Each Other	p. 53
Mr. and Mrs. Squeers at Home	p. 76
Of the Internal Economy of Dotheboys Hall	p. 85
Of Miss Squeers, Mrs. Squeers, Master Squeers, and Mr. Squeers And of Various Matters and Persons Connected No Less with The Squeerses Than with Nicholas Nickleby	p. 98
How Mr. Ralph Nickleby Provided for His Niece and Sister-In-Law	p. 114
Newman Noggs Inducts Mrs. and Miss Nickleby into Their New Dwelling in the City	p. 128
Whereby the Reader Will Be Enabled to Trace the Further Course Of Miss Fanny Squeers's Love, and to Ascertain Whether It Ran Smooth Or Otherwise	p. 134
Nicholas Varies the Monotony of Dotheboys Hall by a Most Vigorous and Remarkable Proceeding, Which Leads to Consequences Of Some Importance	p. 146
Acquaints the Reader with the Cause and Origin of the Interruption Described in the Last Chapter, and with Some Other Matters Necessary to Be Known	p. 172
Nicholas Seeks to Employ Himself in a New Capacity, and Being Unsuccessful, Accepts an Engagement as Tutor in a Private Family	p. 185
Follows the Fortunes of Miss Nickleby	p. 205
Miss Knag, After Doating on Kate Nickleby for Three Whole Days Makes Up Her Mind to Hate Her for Evermore. the Causes Which Lead Miss Knag to Form This Resolution	p. 215
Descriptive of a Dinner at Mr. Ralph Nickleby's, and of The Manner in Which the Company Entertained Themselves, Before Dinner, at Dinner, and After Dinner	p. 229
Wherein Nicholas at Length Encounters His Uncle, to Whom He Expresses His Sentiments with Much Candour. His Resolution	p. 245
Madame Mantalini Finds Herself in a Situation of Some Difficulty And Miss Nickleby Finds Herself in No Situation at All	p. 257
Nicholas, Accompanied by Smike, Sallies Forth to Seek His Fortune He Encounters Mr. Vincent Crummles; and Who He Was, is Herein Made Manifest	p. 270
Treats of the Company of Mr. Vincent Crummles, and of His Affairs, Domestic and Theatrical	p. 286
Of the Great Bespeak for Miss Snevellicci, and the First Appearance Of Nicholas Upon Any Stage	p. 300
Concerning a Young Lady from London, Who Joins the Company And an Elderly Admirer Who Follows in Her Train; with an Affecting Ceremony Consequent on Their Arrival	p. 317
Is Fraught with Some Danger to Miss Nickleby's Peace of Mind	p. 331
Mrs. Nickleby Becomes Acquainted with Messrs. Pyke and Pluck Whose Affection and Interest Are Beyond All Bounds	p. 342
Miss Nickleby, Rendered Desperate by the Persecution of Sir Mulberry Hawk, and the Complicated Difficulties and Distresses Which Surround Her, Appeals, as a Last Resource, to Her Uncle for Protection	p. 357
Of the Proceedings of Nicholas, and Certain Internal Divisions In The Company of Mr. Vincent Crummles	p. 374
Festivities Are Held in Honour of Nicholas, Who Suddenly Withdraws Himself from the Society of Mr. Vincent Crummles and His Theatrical Companions	p. 384
Of Ralph Nickleby and Newman Noggs, and Some Wise Precautions, the Success or Failure of Which Will Appear in the Sequel	p. 400
Relating Chiefly to Some Remarkable Conversation, and Some Remarkable Proceedings to Which It Gives Rise	p. 408
In Which Mr. Ralph Nickleby is Relieved, by a Very Expeditious Process, from All Commerce with His Relations	p. 419
Wherein Mr. Ralph Nickleby is Visited by Persons with Whom The Reader Has Been Already Made Acquainted	p. 426
Smike Becomes Known to Mrs. Nickleby and Kate. Nicholas Also Meets with New Acquaintances. Brighter Days Seem to Dawn Upon The Family	p. 442
Private and Confidential; Relating to Family Matters. Showing How Mr. Kenwigs Underwent Violent Agitation, and How Mrs. Kenwigs Was as Well as Could Be Expected	p. 459
Nicholas Finds Further Favour in the Eyes of the Brothers Cheeryble And Mr. Timothy Linkinwater. the Brothers Give a Banquet On A Great Annual Occasion. Nicholas, on Returning Home from It Receives a Mysterious and Important Disclosure from the Lips Of Mrs. Nickleby	p. 468
Comprises Certain Particulars Arising Out of a Visit of Condolence, Which May Prove Important Hereafter. Smike Unexpectedly Encounters a Very Old Friend, Who Invites Him to His House, and Will Take No Denial	p. 486
In Which Nicholas Falls in Love. He Employs a Mediator, Whose Proceedings Are Crowned with Unexpected Success, Excepting in One Solitary Particular	p. 510
Containing Some Romantic Passages Between Mrs. Nickleby And The Gentleman in the Small-Clothes Next Door	p. 528
Illustrative of the Convivial Sentiment, That the Best of Friends Must Sometimes Part	p. 541
Officiates as a Kind of Gentleman Usher, in Bringing Various People Together	p. 553
Mr. Ralph Nickleby Cuts an Old Acquaintance. It Would Also Appear from the Contents Hereof, That a Joke, Even Between Husband And Wife, May Be Sometimes Carried Too Far	p. 567
Containing Matter of a Surprising Kind	p. 582
Throws Some Light Upon Nicholas's Love; but Whether for Good Or Evil, the Reader Must Determine	p. 595
Mr. Ralph Nickleby Has Some Confidential Intercourse with Another Old Friend. They Concert Between Them a Project, Which Promises Well for Both	p. 609
Being for the Benefit of Mr. Vincent Crummles, and Positively His Last Appearance on This Stage	p. 625
Chronicles the Further Proceedings of the Nickleby Family, and The Sequel of the Adventure of the Gentleman in the Small-Clothes	p. 637
Involves a Serious Catastrophe	p. 653
The Project of Mr. Ralph Nickleby and His Friend, Approaching A Successful Issue, Becomes Unexpectedly Known to Another Party Not Admitted into Their Confidence	p. 667
Nicholas Despairs of Rescuing Madeline Bray, but Plucks Up His Spirits Again, and Determines to Attempt It. Domestic Intelligence Of the Kenwigses and Lillyvicks	p. 679
Containing the Further Progress of the Plot Contrived by Mr. Ralph Nickleby and Mr. Arthur Gride	p. 692
The Crisis of the Project and Its Result	p. 709
Of Family Matters, Cares, Hopes, Disappointments, and Sorrows	p. 721
Ralph Nickleby, Baffled by His Nephew in His Late Design, Hatches A Scheme of Retaliation Which Accident Suggests to Him, and Takes Into His Counsels a Tried Auxiliary	p. 734
How Ralph Nickleby's Auxiliary Went About His Work, and How He Prospered with It	p. 747
In Which One Scene of This History is Closed	p. 758
The Plots Begin to Fail, and Doubts and Dangers to Disturb The Plotter	p. 764
The Dangers Thicken, and the Worst is Told	p. 779
Wherein Nicholas and His Sister Forfeit the Good Opinion of All Worldly and Prudent People	p. 791
Ralph Makes One Last Appointment--And Keeps It	p. 802
The Brothers Cheeryble Make Various Declarations for Themselves And Others. Tim Linkinwater Makes a Declaration for Himself	p. 808
An Old Acquaintance is Recognised Under Melancholy Circumstances And Dotheboys Hall Breaks Up for Ever	p. 819
Conclusion	p. 829
The Nickleby 'Proclamation'	p. 832
Running Headlines for the 1867 Edition	p. 835
Explanatory Notes	p. 844
Textual Notes	p. 864
Table of Contents provided by Publisher. All Rights Reserved.

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Nicholas Nickleby Introduction by John Carey

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