"Dombey and Son" (1846) by Charles Dickens

After the huge popular successes of his first four novels and the lukewarm reception by the mass public of the next two, but encouraged by the huge success of his Christmas Carol stories published in 1843, Dickens raised his sights and clearly aimed at impressing the arbiters of literary good taste, to show them just what he could do.

Dombey and Son thus flows at a calmer, more sedate pace than any of his previous works, with more attention to atmosphere and psychology and with somewhat fewer dramatic goings-on. But there is a big social theme (commerce and big business), there is perhaps Dickens’s most complete and convincing portrayal of a major female personage (Dombey’s seductive and dissatisfied second wife Edith), there is a yet another terrific villain, Mr. Carker, who steals the show from the good guys, and there are as always the most marvellous secondary characters (notably the loveable Captain Cuttle and his dreaded landlady).

So this big novel [1] has something for everybody in it, and well rewards the effort required to penetrate its somewhat staid outer surface.

Dombey and Son was originally published in 19 monthly magazine instalments between October 1846 and April 1848, with a total of 40 elaborate, finely-drawn illustrations by Phiz (Hablot Browne), all of which are shown here.

An e-book, with all of the illustrations, is available for downloading below.

Dombey and Son (e-book)