Charles Dickens was born in 1812
A Tale ofTwo Cities is one of Charles
near Portsmouth, where his father
A Tale of Tw...
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Charles Dickens was born in 1812
A Tale ofTwo Cities is one of Charles
near Portsmouth, where his father
A Tale of Two Cities
worked as a naval clerk. Living in London in 1824, Dickens was sent by his family to work in a blacking warehouse, while his father was
Dickens's most exciting novels. Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, it tells the story of a family threatened by the terrible events of the past. Dr Manette,
arrested and imprisoned for debt.
wrongly imprisoned in the Bastille
Fortunes improved and Dickens
for eighteen y ears, is finally released
returned to school, eventually
CHARLES DICKENS
becoming a parliamentary reporter. In December r832, his first piece of
and is reunited with his daughter Lucie, who despite her French ancestry has been brought up in
fiction was published by a magazine,
London. Lucie falls in love with
and by r836 he had begun work on
Charles Darnay, who has abandoned
The Pickwick Papers. He focused his
wealth and tide in France because of
career on writing, producing fourteen
his political convictions. When
highly successful novels, as well as
revolution breaks out in Paris,
journalism, shorter fiction and travel
Damay returns to the city to help an
books. He died in 1870.
old family servant, but there he is arrested because of the crimes committed by his relations. Lucie, with dleir daughter and her father, follows him across the Channel, thus putting all their lives in danger.
ISBN 10 1-904633-06-4 ISBN13978-1-904633-06-8 Collector's Library 69 Gloucester Crescent London NW1 7EG Website: www.collectors-library.com
I I
I
Cover illustration Pierre-Jacques Vol.ire (r 729- r 802)
A river landscape with figures fleeing a burning city Private coUection
S3I1.IJ OM..L dO 3'1V.L V
A TALE OF TWO CITIES � Charles Dickens With Illustrations by PHIZ
and an Afterword by SAM GILPIN
coUeaors {ltbrar�
A
Tale of Two Cities was first published in 1859 This edition first published in 2003 by CRW Publishing Limited 69 Gloucester Crescent, London NWI 7EG under the
ColTec1ors 'libra,! imprint
ISBN 9781
904633 068
Afterword copyright © CRW Publishing Limited 2003 All rights reserved. This publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. 681 0 9 7 Typeset in Great Britain by Antony Gray Printed and bound in China by Imago
Contents Preface
II
Characters
13
BOOK THE FIRST
Recalled to Life The Period
17
2
The Mail
20
3
The Night Shadows
28
4
The Preparation
34
5
The Wine Shop
49
6
The Shoemaker
63
BOOK THE SECOND
The Golden Thread Five Years Later
81
2
A Sight
89
3
A Disappointment
4
Congratulatory
97 II6
5
The Jackal
125
6
Hundreds of People
132
7
Monseigneur in Town
148
8
Monseigneur in the Country
161
5
The Gorgon's Head
168
10
Two Promises
182 192
9
II
A Companion Picture
12
The Fellow of Delicacy
198
13
The Fellow of no Delicacy
208
14
The Honest Tradesman
214
15
Knitting
228
16
Still Knitting
244
17
One Night
258
18
Nine Days
264
19
An Opinion
273
20
A Plea
282
21
Echoing Footsteps
288
22
The Sea Still Rises
304
23
Fire Rises
3II
24
Drawn to the Loadstone Rock
320
BOOK THE THIRD
The Track of a Storm In Secret
339
2
The Grindstone
355
3
The Shadow
363
4
Calm in Storm
370
5
The Wood-Sawyer
377
6
Triumph
385
7
A Knock at the Door
394
8
A Hand at Cards
401
9
The Game Made
419
The Substance of the Shadow
435
10
6
II
Dusk
455
12
Darkness
461 472
13
Fifty-Two
14
The Knitting Done
488
15
The Footsteps Die Out For Ever
504
Afterword
513
Bibliography
521
Biography
521
Illustrations Under the plane tree
12
The mail The shoemaker The likeness
III
Congratulations
II7
The stoppage at the fountain
159
Mr Stryver at Tellson's Bank
201
The spy's funeral
219
The wine shop
231
The accomplices
283
The sea nOses
297
Before the prison tribunal
347
The knock on the door
399
The double recognition
405
In the Bastille
437
After the sentence
457 7
S3J.LI:J OM..L dO tI'lV.L V
Preface \Vhen I was acting, with my children and friends, in
Mr Wilkie Collins's drama of The Frozen Deep, I first
conceived the main idea of this story. A strong desire was upon me then, to embody it in my own person; and I traced out in my fancy, the state of mind of which it would necessitate the presentation to an observant spectator, with particular care and interest. As the idea became familiar to me, it gradually shaped itself into its present form. Throughout its execution, it has had complete possession of me; I have so far verified what is done and suffered in these pages, as that I have certainly done and suffered it all myself. \Vhenever any reference (however slight) is made here to the condition of the French people before or during the Revolution, it is truly made, on the faith of trustworthy witnesses. It has been one of my hopes to add something to the popular and picturesque means of understanding that terrible time, though no one can hope to add anything to the philosophy of Mr Carlyle's wonderful book.
II
Characters SYDNEY CARTON, a London barrister, an able but idle man, andjackal to Mr Stryver. ROGER CLY, an Old Bailey spy. JERRY CRUNCHER, an odd-job man at Tellson's Bank, and also a resurrectionist. YOUNG JERRY CRUNCHER, son of the preceding. MONSIEUR ERNEST DEFARGE, keeper of a wine shop in Paris, and ringleader of the Revolutionists in the suburb of St Antoine. MONSIEUR THEOPHILE GABELLE, a postmaster. GASPARD, an assassin. JACQUES ONE JACQUES TWO JACQUES THREE
I
Revolutionists, and . assoCIates of Defarge.
JACQUES FOUR, a name assumed by Defarge. JACQUES FIVE, an associate of Defarge; a mender of roads, afterwards a wood-sawyer. JOE, a coachman. MR JARVIS LORRY, a confidential clerk at Tellson's Bank, and a friend of the Manettes. DR ALEXANDRE MANETTE, a physician of Paris, confined for many years in the Bastille. SOLOMON PROSS, alias JOHN BARSAD, a spy and secret informer, afterwards a turnkey in the Conciergerie in Paris. 13
MARQUIS ST EVREMONDE (I), a proud and oppressive nobleman, twin brother of the following, joint inheritor and next successor of the elder Marquis, and uncle of Charles St Evremonde. MARQUIS ST EVREMONDE (2), twin brother of the preced ing, and father of Charles St Evremonde. CHARLES ST EVREMONDE, a French emigre, called Charles Darnay, son of the preceding. MR STRYVER, a London bam·ster. TOM, coachman of the Dover mail. MRs CRUNCHER, wife of ]eny Cruncher. MADAME THERESE DEFARGE, wife of Monsieur Defarge, and leader of the St Antoine rabble of women. LUCIE MANETTE, daughter of Dr Manette. MISS PROSS, maid to Lucie Manette. MARQUISE ST EVREMONDE, wife of the Marquis St Evremonde (2). LUCIE
ST
EVREMONDE,
daughter
of
Charles
St
Evremonde. THE VENGEANCE, a leading Revolutionist among the St Antoine women.
14
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