Physical description

The Uncommercial Traveller
Author: Charles Dickens
Publisher: Chapman & Hall Ltd
Date: Subject Book 1907. (See note section this document for more information on Edition).
Green Faux leather hardcover with title on spine in gold lettering, Charles Dickens signature on front cover written in gold lettering. The spine has a Library label and no Volume information.

Publication type

fiction

Inscriptions & markings

The label on the spine cover with typed text PAT 823.8 DIC
Paste down front end paper has a sticker from Warrnambool Mechanics Institute and Free Library covered by a sticker from Corangamite Regional Library Service.
Front loose end paper has a stamp from Corangamite Regional Library Service.
Flypaper has "F5176" written in black ink handwriting.

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, Great Expectations and David Copperfield.
The Uncommercial Traveller is a collection of semi autobiographical essays, not a novel. Dickens uses the persona of an “Uncommercial Traveller” to roam London and elsewhere, reflecting on street life, poverty, travel, memory, and social conditions in a way that shows off his skills as an observer and journalist.
The pieces are loose, varied sketches rather than one continuous plot. They include London wanderings, travel observations, sketches of odd characters, and writing about hardship and public life. A major recurring aim within these essays is social observation, especially Dickens’s concern for ordinary people and the poor.