Physical description

A Childs History of England.
Author: Charles Dickens.
Illustrator. Harry Furniss.
Publisher: Collins Clear Type Press, London.
Date: 1910. (See note section this document for more information on Edition).
red cloth hardcover with title on spine in gold lettering and pattern. The spine has a Library label and no Volume information only title and author.

Publication type

fiction

Inscriptions & markings

The label on the spine with typed text PAT 823.8 DIC
Front fly cover has an illustration and the illustrators name “Harry Furniss”.
Paste down front end paper has a sticker from Warrnambool Public Library covered by a sticker from Corangamite Regional Library Service
Front loose end paper has a stamp from Corangamite Regional Library Service.

Summary

Charles Dickens (1812–1870) was one of the great English novelists of the Victorian era, famous for vivid characters, social criticism, and stories that were first published in serial form. He began as a journalist, rose to enormous popularity during his lifetime, and wrote major works such as Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, and Great Expectations.
“A Child’s History of England” is Dickens’s three volume, child directed history of England, originally serialised in Household Words from 1851 to 1853 and later issued in book form in 1853. It covers English history from ancient times through the fall of James II, with a brief closing summary up to Queen Victoria’s accession to the crown. Dickens wrote it as a readable, lively alternative to dry school history, aiming to interest his own children and young readers. The work is outspoken, often anti monarchical and anti aristocratic in tone, and it uses Dickens’s usual vivid style rather than detached academic prose.