More on Charles Dickens

When I was a child, my family had a complete set of the writings of Charles Dickens. They had maroon covers with gold tooling and Dickens' signature embossed on the front. I thought they were the height of elegance.

They were published by Hazell, Watson and Viney. There is no publication date, but my mother learned to read from them, and in turn used them to teach me to read, so they would be at least 100 years old by now.

I have only one of them now. It is smaller and shabbier than I remember, and I love it dearly.