Nicholas Nickleby

Issued in monthly parts in 1838-39, this novel follows Nicholas Nickleby after his father's death leaves the family dependent on the usurer uncle Ralph. Ralph sends Nicholas to teach at Dotheboys Hall, a Yorkshire school run by Wackford Squeers, and places Kate in a milliner's shop where she is pursued by Ralph's clients. Nicholas rebels, takes refuge with the Crummles theatrical troupe, and later finds patrons in the charitable Cheeryble brothers, while the ruined hanger-on Smike attaches himself to him. The plot moves between Yorkshire cruelty, Portsmouth stages, and London money-lending. It is a picaresque social novel about a young man earning a living against a predatory family.

Bound in cream cloth printed with a montage of Keeping’s illustrations from the text, with dark red spine-label. Dark red endleaves. Dark red slipcase, with Dickens’s signature in gold.