Great Expectations

Orphan Pip is given the chance to become a gentleman, but love and success come at a cost. This beautiful deluxe gift edition presents Dickens's great novel in a hardback with foiled covers, marbled endpapers, sprayed edges, beautiful paper and a silk ribbon. Pip begins as an ordinary country boy, frightened by an escaped convict on the marshes and dazzled by the cold brilliance of Estella. A mysterious benefactor sends him to London, where he tries to become a gentleman and leave shame behind. Yet wealth, desire and social ambition do not bring the freedom he imagines, and the secrets behind his rise demand a reckoning. Great Expectations is a classic novel about childhood, class, crime, love, self-deception and moral growth. This Vintage Collector's Classics edition is a gorgeous gift for Dickens readers, collectors and anyone looking for a beautifully bound classic to bring their bookshelf to life.

Charles Dickens was born in Hampshire on February 7, 1812. His father was a clerk in the navy pay office, who was well paid but often ended up in financial troubles. When Dickens was twelve years old he was send to work in a shoe polish factory because his family had been taken to the debtors' prison. His career as a writer of fiction started in 1833 when his short stories and essays began to appear in periodicals. The Pickwick Papers, his first commercial success, was published in 1836. The serialisation of Oliver Twist began in 1837. Many other novels followed and The Old Curiosity Shop brought Dickens international fame and he became a celebrity in America as well as Britain. Charles Dickens died on 9 June 1870. He is buried in Westminster Abbey.