THE OXFORD WORLD'S CLASSIC DICKENS

The series is, however, inconsistent as a whole because it lacks a general editor. [...]while most of the novels provide illustrations, some do not, including fairly recent editions. In this case, Gill analyzes the novel in its socio-economic context, suggests biographical and literary influences, reviews its critical reception, measures its strengths and weaknesses, and offers his reading of the novel, which considers “why, when the success of so many aspects of the novel is open to question, does it overall make such a compelling imaginative impact?” (xvii). Brennan's chronology presents not only a much fuller listing of events in Dickens's life (e.g., “1821 CD goes to school run by William Gyles”; “1849 [16 Jan.] Eighth child, Henry ["Harry"], born; [30 Apr] monthly serializations of David Copperfield begins; [July–Oct.] with family at Bonchurch, Isle of Wight”) in the left-hand column (xl), but also “Historical and Cultural Background” in the right-hand column, providing dates of significant cultural, historical, and literary events; (e.g., “1846 Corn Laws repealed; Peel resigns; Lord John Russell PM; ether first used as a general anaesthetic; Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett marry secretly and leave for Italy; Balzac, La Cousine Bette; Poems by Currer, Ellis and Acton Bell [i.e., Charlotte, Emily, and Anne Brontë]; Edward Lear, Book of Nonsense”) (xxxix). Dennis Walder's new edition of Dombey and Son (2001), based on the text established by Alan Horsman in the 1974 Clarendon edition, includes all the original illustrations by Browne, Brennan's chronology, Dickens's preface to the Cheap Edition (1858), the number plans, a substantial bibliography, and twenty pages of explanatory notes, a significant development over the three and a half pages in the earlier edition.