The Lifetime UK Editions of Great Expectations

Starting from its current status as, arguably, Dickens's most popular novel, the author firstly seeks to show that Great Expectations was judged to be of relatively little value within the author's works by the Victorians, and then to explore reasons for this critical and popular neglect. In the process, a number of contentious bibliographical points are clarified and there is detailed discussion of both the formats of publication and the unsatisfactory illustrations to the work by Marcus Stone. As precise printing figures for each of the UK lifetime editions are known, it has proved possible to demonstrate that comparatively few copies of Great Expectations were available for purchase during Dickens's lifetime and that the novel only began to acquire its present popularity well into the 20th century.