Tale of Two Cities ,A 1904633064, 9781904633068

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Charles Dickens was born in 1812

A Tale ofTwo Cities is one of Charles

near Portsmouth, where his father

A Tale of Two Cities

worked as a naval clerk. Living in London in 1824, Dickens was sent by his family to work in a blacking­ warehouse, while his father was

Dickens's most exciting novels. Set against the backdrop of the French Revolution, it tells the story of a family threatened by the terrible events of the past. Dr Manette,

arrested and imprisoned for debt.

wrongly imprisoned in the Bastille

Fortunes improved and Dickens

for eighteen y ears, is finally released

returned to school, eventually

CHARLES DICKENS

becoming a parliamentary reporter. In December r832, his first piece of

and is reunited with his daughter Lucie, who despite her French ancestry has been brought up in

fiction was published by a magazine,

London. Lucie falls in love with

and by r836 he had begun work on

Charles Darnay, who has abandoned

The Pickwick Papers. He focused his

wealth and tide in France because of

career on writing, producing fourteen

his political convictions. When

highly successful novels, as well as

revolution breaks out in Paris,

journalism, shorter fiction and travel

Damay returns to the city to help an

books. He died in 1870.

old family servant, but there he is arrested because of the crimes committed by his relations. Lucie, with dleir daughter and her father, follows him across the Channel, thus putting all their lives in danger.

ISBN 10 1-904633-06-4 ISBN13978-1-904633-06-8 Collector's Library 69 Gloucester Crescent London NW1 7EG Website: www.collectors-library.com

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Cover illustration Pierre-Jacques Vol.ire (r 729- r 802)

A river landscape with figures fleeing a burning city Private coUection

S3I1.IJ OM..L dO 3'1V.L V

A TALE OF TWO CITIES � Charles Dickens With Illustrations by PHIZ

and an Afterword by SAM GILPIN

coUeaors {ltbrar�

A

Tale of Two Cities was first published in 1859 This edition first published in 2003 by CRW Publishing Limited 69 Gloucester Crescent, London NWI 7EG under the

ColTec1ors 'libra,! imprint

ISBN 9781

904633 068

Afterword copyright © CRW Publishing Limited 2003 All rights reserved. This publication or any part thereof may not be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise, without prior permission in writing from the publishers. 681 0 9 7 Typeset in Great Britain by Antony Gray Printed and bound in China by Imago

Contents Preface

II

Characters

13

BOOK THE FIRST

Recalled to Life The Period

17

2

The Mail

20

3

The Night Shadows

28

4

The Preparation

34

5

The Wine Shop

49

6

The Shoemaker

63

BOOK THE SECOND

The Golden Thread Five Years Later

81

2

A Sight

89

3

A Disappointment

4

Congratulatory

97 II6

5

The Jackal

125

6

Hundreds of People

132

7

Monseigneur in Town

148

8

Monseigneur in the Country

161

5

The Gorgon's Head

168

10

Two Promises

182 192

9

II

A Companion Picture

12

The Fellow of Delicacy

198

13

The Fellow of no Delicacy

208

14

The Honest Tradesman

214

15

Knitting

228

16

Still Knitting

244

17

One Night

258

18

Nine Days

264

19

An Opinion

273

20

A Plea

282

21

Echoing Footsteps

288

22

The Sea Still Rises

304

23

Fire Rises

3II

24

Drawn to the Loadstone Rock

320

BOOK THE THIRD

The Track of a Storm In Secret

339

2

The Grindstone

355

3

The Shadow

363

4

Calm in Storm

370

5

The Wood-Sawyer

377

6

Triumph

385

7

A Knock at the Door

394

8

A Hand at Cards

401

9

The Game Made

419

The Substance of the Shadow

435

10

6

II

Dusk

455

12

Darkness

461 472

13

Fifty-Two

14

The Knitting Done

488

15

The Footsteps Die Out For Ever

504

Afterword

513

Bibliography

521

Biography

521

Illustrations Under the plane tree

12

The mail The shoemaker The likeness

III

Congratulations

II7

The stoppage at the fountain

159

Mr Stryver at Tellson's Bank

201

The spy's funeral

219

The wine shop

231

The accomplices

283

The sea nOses

297

Before the prison tribunal

347

The knock on the door

399

The double recognition

405

In the Bastille

437

After the sentence

457 7

S3J.LI:J OM..L dO tI'lV.L V

Preface \Vhen I was acting, with my children and friends, in

Mr Wilkie Collins's drama of The Frozen Deep, I first

conceived the main idea of this story. A strong desire was upon me then, to embody it in my own person; and I traced out in my fancy, the state of mind of which it would necessitate the presentation to an observant spectator, with particular care and interest. As the idea became familiar to me, it gradually shaped itself into its present form. Throughout its execution, it has had complete possession of me; I have so far verified what is done and suffered in these pages, as that I have certainly done and suffered it all myself. \Vhenever any reference (however slight) is made here to the condition of the French people before or during the Revolution, it is truly made, on the faith of trustworthy witnesses. It has been one of my hopes to add something to the popular and picturesque means of understanding that terrible time, though no one can hope to add anything to the philosophy of Mr Carlyle's wonderful book.

II

Characters SYDNEY CARTON, a London barrister, an able but idle man, andjackal to Mr Stryver. ROGER CLY, an Old Bailey spy. JERRY CRUNCHER, an odd-job man at Tellson's Bank, and also a resurrectionist. YOUNG JERRY CRUNCHER, son of the preceding. MONSIEUR ERNEST DEFARGE, keeper of a wine shop in Paris, and ringleader of the Revolutionists in the suburb of St Antoine. MONSIEUR THEOPHILE GABELLE, a postmaster. GASPARD, an assassin. JACQUES ONE JACQUES TWO JACQUES THREE

I

Revolutionists, and . assoCIates of Defarge.

JACQUES FOUR, a name assumed by Defarge. JACQUES FIVE, an associate of Defarge; a mender of roads, afterwards a wood-sawyer. JOE, a coachman. MR JARVIS LORRY, a confidential clerk at Tellson's Bank, and a friend of the Manettes. DR ALEXANDRE MANETTE, a physician of Paris, confined for many years in the Bastille. SOLOMON PROSS, alias JOHN BARSAD, a spy and secret informer, afterwards a turnkey in the Conciergerie in Paris. 13

MARQUIS ST EVREMONDE (I), a proud and oppressive nobleman, twin brother of the following, joint inheritor and next successor of the elder Marquis, and uncle of Charles St Evremonde. MARQUIS ST EVREMONDE (2), twin brother of the preced­ ing, and father of Charles St Evremonde. CHARLES ST EVREMONDE, a French emigre, called Charles Darnay, son of the preceding. MR STRYVER, a London bam·ster. TOM, coachman of the Dover mail. MRs CRUNCHER, wife of ]eny Cruncher. MADAME THERESE DEFARGE, wife of Monsieur Defarge, and leader of the St Antoine rabble of women. LUCIE MANETTE, daughter of Dr Manette. MISS PROSS, maid to Lucie Manette. MARQUISE ST EVREMONDE, wife of the Marquis St Evremonde (2). LUCIE

ST

EVREMONDE,

daughter

of

Charles

St

Evremonde. THE VENGEANCE, a leading Revolutionist among the St Antoine women.

14

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