The Uncommercial Traveller (不做生意的旅行者)

Charles Dickens

Dec 2011 · Hyweb Technology Co. Ltd.

About this ebook

Charles Dickens is considered to be one of the greatest British writers of all times. He was a social activist who wrote plays and novels during the Victorian period. His most famous novels include Tale of Two Cities, Oliver Twist, and David Copperfield. The following stories are included in this volume. His general line of business -- The shipwreck -- Wapping workhouse -- Two views of a cheap theatre - Poor Mercantile Jack -- Refreshments for travellers - Travelling abroad -- The great Tasmania's cargo -- City of London churches -- Shy neighbourhoods -- Tramps -- Dullborough town-- Night walks -- Chambers -- Nurse's stories - Arcadian London -- The Italian prisoner -- The Calais night mail --Some recollections of mortality -- Birthday celebrations --The short-timers -- Bound for the Great Salt Lake -- The city of the absent -- An old stage--coaching house -- The boiled beef of New England -- Chatham Dockyard -- In the French-Flemish country -- Medicine men of civilisation --Titbull's Alms-Houses -- The ruffian -- Aboard ship - A small star in the east -- A little dinner in an hour -- Mr. Barlow -- On an amateur beat -- A fly-leaf in a life - A plea for total abstinence.

About the author

Charles Dickens, perhaps the best British novelist of the Victorian era, was born in Portsmouth, Hampshire, England on February 7, 1812. His happy early childhood was interrupted when his father was sent to debtors' prison, and young Dickens had to go to work in a factory at age twelve. Later, he took jobs as an office boy and journalist before publishing essays and stories in the 1830s. His first novel, The Pickwick Papers, made him a famous and popular author at the age of twenty-five. Subsequent works were published serially in periodicals and cemented his reputation as a master of colorful characterization, and as a harsh critic of social evils and corrupt institutions. His many books include Oliver Twist, David Copperfield, Bleak House, Great Expectations, Little Dorrit, A Christmas Carol, and A Tale of Two Cities. Dickens married Catherine Hogarth in 1836, and the couple had nine children before separating in 1858 when he began a long affair with Ellen Ternan, a young actress. Despite the scandal, Dickens remained a public figure, appearing often to read his fiction. He died in 1870, leaving his final novel, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, unfinished.