A compendium of information about Dickens: his life, his works, his reputation and his cultural context. In addition to entries on his works, his characters, his friends and places mentioned in his works, it includes extensive information about the age in which he lived and worked: the people, events, and institutions which provided the context for his work; the houses he lived in, the countries he visited, the ideas he satirized, the circumstances he responded to, the culture he participated in. The text provides a synthesis of Dickens studies and contains a range of information on Dickens.