A Tale of Two Cities — The Companion Edition (eBook)

"It was the best of times, it was the worst of times." The most famous opening sentence in English fiction begins Charles Dickens's novel of London and Paris, of a man recalled to life after eighteen years buried in the Bastille, and of the golden thread — and the rising sea — that bind two cities into one story.

This is the complete A Tale of Two Cities — all forty-five chapters in three books, unabridged, in the text of the 1859 first book edition (Chapman & Hall), collated against a scan of an 1859 printing. Dickens's own Preface — first printed in that book edition, and dropped from the Project Gutenberg transcription — is restored, together with his inscription to Lord John Russell. Eight of H. K. Browne's ("Phiz") sixteen listed plates for the first edition are restored from the same 1859 printing and placed at the chapters they illustrate — the Frontispiece, The Likeness, The Sea Rises, The Knock at the Door among them; the edition's provenance note names the eight designs that could not be restored from that copy, honestly and in full.

Around the novel, a companion written for reading together: an original introduction (Dickens in 1859, Carlyle's French Revolution as his declared source, the All the Year Round serial that launched a journal); a Who's Who of the Manettes, Carton, the Defarges and the rest, each with the thread to watch; four explainers — the French Revolution timeline the novel assumes, the Terror and the guillotine, Tellson's Bank and the Dover road in coaching-era England, and period money and customs in both countries; a short life of Dickens; a note on the text and the period; a four-meeting reading schedule; and forty discussion questions, spoiler-fenced meeting by meeting — above all, the ending's sacrifice stays fenced until its chapters.

No total-sales figure is stated for this novel anywhere in this edition: the figures in popular accounts are unverified estimates, and this edition does not repeat them. The novel's text and Phiz's illustrations are public domain. All companion material is original to this edition. This is an independent publication, not affiliated with or endorsed by any other edition or adaptation.

Formats: EPUB eBook ($9.99, this listing). Paperback ($14.99) and hardcover ($24.99) follow on KDP (print guidance below); the printable Book Club Kit is available in this store.