P e n g u i n c l a s s i c s Great Expectations

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p e n g u i n c l a s s i c s

Great Expectations

Charles Dickens was born in Portsmouth in

1812

. His father was

imprisoned for debt and Dickens was briefly sent to work in a blacking

warehouse at the age of twelve. He taught himself shorthand and

became a reporter. His first novel,

The Pickwick Papers

(

1836

–

7

),

was a huge success. His most famous works include

Oliver Twist

(

1837

),

A Christmas Carol

(

1843

),

David Copperfield

(

1849

–

50

),

A

Tale of Two Cities

(

1859

) and

Great Expectations

(

1860

–

1

). His last

novel,

The Mystery of Edwin Drood

, was never completed and he

died in

1870

.

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Charles Dickens

Great Expectations

p e n g u i n b o o k s

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P E N G U I N   B O O K S

Published by the Penguin Group:

Penguin Books Ltd, 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

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Penguin Books Ltd, Registered Offices: 80 Strand, London WC2R 0RL, England

First published 1860-61

This electronic edition published 2002

Making or distributing electronic copies of this book constitutes copyright infringement and could

subject the infringer to civil and/or criminal liability, where applicable. No part of this book may be

reproduced by any means without the prior written permission of the publisher.

UK:

ISBN 0141881208 in MS Reader format

ISBN 0141881216 in Adobe eReader format

US:

ISBN 078651261X in MS Reader format

ISBN 0786512628 in Adobe eReader format

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Contents

Volume I

1

Volume II

159

Volume III

321

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Volume I

---

Affectionately inscribed

to

Chauncy Hare Townshend

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3

Chapter

1

My father’s family name being Pirrip, and my Christian name

Philip, my infant tongue could make of both names nothing longer

or more explicit than Pip. So, I called myself Pip, and came to be

called Pip.

I give Pirrip as my father’s family name, on the authority of his

tombstone and my sister – Mrs Joe Gargery, who married the

blacksmith. As I never saw my father or my mother, and never saw

any likeness of either of them (for their days were long before the

days of photographs), my first fancies regarding what they were

like, were unreasonably derived from their tombstones. The shape

of the letters on my father’s, gave me an odd idea that he was a

square, stout, dark man, with curly black hair. From the character

and turn of the inscription, ‘