The Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens: Free Audiobook and Listening Guide

The Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens, credited to G. K. Chesterton, is available as a LibriVox volunteer audiobook. This guide identifies the recording, its source summary and its audio tracks.

About the work

The LibriVox catalogue summary, preserved with the recording, reads:

LibriVox recording of The Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens by G. K. Chesterton, read by Ray Clare. “These papers were originally published as prefaces to the separate books of Dickens in one of the most extensive of those cheap libraries of the classics which are one of the real improvements of recent times. Thus they were harmless, being diluted by, or rather drowned in Dickens. My scrap of theory was a mere dry biscuit to be taken with the grand tawny port of great English comedy; and by most people it was not taken at all--like the biscuit.Nevertheless the essays were not in intention so aimless as they appear in fact. I had a general notion of what needed saying about Dickens to the new generation, though probably I did not say it. I will make another attempt to do so in this prologue, and, possibly fail again." (Summary by G. K. Chesterton)

Recording facts

• Recording title: The Appreciations and Criticisms of the Works of Charles Dickens
• Author credits: G. K. Chesterton
• Language: English
• Original MP3 tracks: 32
• Listed recording duration: 8:27:32

Catalogue topics

• audio books
• Chesterton
• G. K. Chesterton
• essays
• Dickens
• Charles Dickens
• literary criticism

Opening tracks: first 24 of 32

1. 00 - Introduction Part 1 — 10:40
2. 01 - Introduction Part 2 — 14:19
3. 02 - Introduction Part 3 — 11:46
4. 03 - Introduction Part 4 — 9:33
5. 04 - Sketches by Boz Part 1 — 11:37
6. 05 - Sketches by Boz Part 2 — 12:52
7. 06 - Pickwick Papers Part 1 — 11:56
8. 07 - Pickwick Papers - Part 2 — 13:10
9. 08 - Nicholas Nickleby - Part 1 — 11:57
10. 09 - Nicholas Nickleby - Part 2 — 11:40
11. 10 - Oliver Twist — 21:49
12. 11 - The Old Curiosity Shop - Part 1 — 13:52
13. 12 - The Old Curiosity Shop - Part 2 — 14:59
14. 13 - Barnaby Rudge — 20:41
15. 14 - American Notes — 20:18
16. 15 - Pictures from Italy — 5:47
17. 16 - Martin Chuzzlewit — 23:56
18. 17 - Christmas Books — 20:34
19. 18 - Dombey and Son - Part 1 — 14:59
20. 19 - Dombey and Son - Part 2 — 15:52
21. 20 - David Copperfield — 20:36
22. 21 - Christmas Stories — 14:47
23. 22 - Bleak House — 21:48
24. 23 - Child's History of England — 17:00

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Source and rights

This is a record from LibriVox's official Internet Archive collection, with a public-domain licence recorded in its metadata. LibriVox's policy includes its catalogue summaries as well as its recordings. Its public-domain assessment follows United States law; copyright status can differ elsewhere. The summary and track facts are reproduced and reformatted from that record. Dates attached to the archive upload are not treated as original book publication dates.