Dombey and Son

First published in monthly parts from 1846, this novel centres on Paul Dombey, a proud London merchant who values his infant son as heir to the firm and treats his daughter Florence as irrelevant. The boy's frail life, a second marriage to the penniless but self-possessed Edith Granger, and the plotting of the manager James Carker occupy the middle of the book. Settings include the firm's offices, a Brighton school, the railway's new cuttings, and the house where Florence waits. The conflict is between Dombey's idea of the firm as a dynasty and the human claims he refuses to see. It is a family and commercial novel, not a street crime story.

Quarter bound in green cloth with gilt decorations and title label on spine, brown paper boards patterned in black. Brown endleaves. Green slipcase.