None of Dickens' books has gone out of print

Read the works of Charles Dickens

Dickens' work has long been in the public domain, meaning it's freely available to readers. Project Gutenberg's collection of Dickens' novels allows you to read classic novels like "Oliver Twist" and "A Tale of Two Cities," as well as early works like "Sketches by Boz," at no cost.

Scholars believe Dickens wrote over a million words of nonfiction

The author began writing professionally in his teens, first as a court reporter, then for many papers, penning op-eds, criticism, and other miscellany. While Dickens is often discussed as a novelist, he has a massive corpus of works situated in reality.

Dickens wrote his books as they were serialized in newspapers

Dickens, like many Victorian writers, published his novels as serials that were released piecemeal, over an extended period. Unlike most of his contemporaries, though, Dickens wrote the story as it was released, allowing him to respond to public reactions.

Dickens performed 'A Christmas Carol' over 100 times

The writer began performing readings of his works in 1853 and chose 'A Christmas Carol' for the inaugural event. In the 16 years that followed, he performed it over 100 times, using different voices for his characters and consistently revising the text for the stage.

Despite his sometimes caustic satire, Dickens was ultimately an optimist

Michael Slater, a professor of Victorian literature at Birkbeck College, notes that Dickens' anger at Parliament and social injustice never got in the way of his optimism. "There is a constant allegiance to the lives of ordinary people and their pleasures," he said in a 2001 interview with "In Our Time."

The best adaptations of Dickens' books

There have been over 300 screen adaptations of Dickens' works, including 50 of "A Christmas Carol" alone. This list breaks down the best of the bunch, with nods to the Gen X "Great Expectations," the musical rendition of "Oliver Twist," and Dev Patel's take on "David Copperfield."

Fans loved a minor character, so Dickens made him a major part of 'Pickwick'

Dickens' first serialized novel, "The Pickwick Papers," was selling modestly until he introduced the wisecracking Sam Weller, a cockney character that working-class readers instantly loved. In response to the attention, Dickens made Weller a central figure in the book, turning the series into a bestseller.

Jane Austen remains a literary force 250 years later

Both her books and adaptations of them for film continue to sell, with 2025 seeing the highest book sales since 2009. Critics claim her deep, witty exploration of relationships and social norms are the basis of her enduring relevance.

Take a tour of Charles Dickens' London

Much of Dickens' fiction concerns Victorian London and its people. This tour of the city, led by Dickens biographer Simon Callow, walks you through significant sites, like the place where Dickens' parents were married, the shoe-blacking factory where he worked as a boy, and the place where he created his first magazine.

In 1996, King had 6 books on the New York Times bestseller list

Stephen King has been wildly popular for decades, but he was never more visible than in the 1990s—especially for one week in 1996. All six volumes of the serialized novel "The Green Mile" appeared on the New York Times bestseller list. Reading the article not only provides some context for King's ubiquity, but also hints at what would become a norm in publishing: a few big-name authors dominating the charts with their popular series. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

How Dickinson's reputation changed in the 20th century

In 1955, Thomas Johnson edited the first complete edition of Dickinson's poetry, using the original handwritten manuscripts as his guide. Unlike previous editors, Johnson allowed Dickinson's unique choices to remain. The collection established her as a singular, innovative voice, a reputation that only continued growing through the decades.

'The Dark Night Rises' was inspired by 'A Tale of Two Cities'

The 2012 Batman film makes several allusions to the Dickens novel, with one character even holding a copy of the book in a final scene. Director Christopher Nolan and his brother (and screenwriter) Jonathan Nolan frame Gotham as a place of inequity, much like Dickens does with London and Paris. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Picasso is the bestselling painter of all time

Picasso’s artistic legacy remains lucrative 50 years after his death. His output was immense, and several individual works have sold at auction for over $100M. Those sales were not only jaw-dropping but also historic, leading to Picasso’s place as the top-grossing artist of all time.

The printing press spread novels widely

Johannes Gutenberg's invention of the printing press in 1440 changed how writing was reproduced. It allowed multiple manuscripts to be copied via movable type rather than by hand, making more literature more widely available. Over time, that change caused literacy rates to rise, creating a market for even more literature.

The story of Sweeney Todd was first told in 1800s penny dreadfuls

The demon barber of Fleet Street made his first print appearance between the pages of penny dreadfuls, cheaply made serials filled with grisly tales and sold for a single penny. The tale of Sweeney Todd was published in 18 parts over the course of 18 weeks between November 1846 and March 1847. The series was expanded into 92 parts and later gathered into a single volume published in 1850.

Early reviews turned ‘Harry Potter’ into an unexpected hit

Though only 500 hardback copies of "The Philosopher’s Stone" were printed in 1997—and mostly sent to libraries, due to doubts it would sell—glowing reviews and word of mouth fueled a surge in demand. Within a year, the book had sold more than 70,000 copies in the UK.

Mass market paperbacks were originally designed to fit in your pocket

These books were supposed to cost no more than a pack of cigarettes and had a huge reach thanks to their affordable price. The pocket-sized paperbacks are now going extinct due to the convenience of downloading reading materials on smartphones and other shifts in the publishing industry.

Baum wrote 14 'Oz' novels in total

Following the success of ‘The Wonderful Wizard of Oz,’ Baum continued writing about the fictional world until his death, turning the world into a lucrative brand. One of the books, “The Patchwork Girl of Oz,” was turned into a silent film and released in 1914.

A book series aimed at World War II soldiers helped popularize works like 'The Great Gatsby' and 'Of Mice and Men.'

During the COVID-19 pandemic, readers returned to Camus' 'The Plague'

The 1947 novel, about a city in Algeria that enacts a city-wide quarantine to battle a deadly outbreak, captured readers' attention in the early months of 2020. In the UK, over 2,000 copies of the book were sold in March of that year, over six times what it had sold the month before.

Biographer Ron Chernow believes Twain's legacy embodies 'the best and worst of our culture'

Twain’s childhood hometown of Hannibal, Missouri, attracts countless tourists seeking Twain-themed reenactors and museums. Ron Chernow, author of a 2025 about the writer, argues that the ongoing interest in Hannibal and in Twain’s writing is because his work and life typify the American experience.

'Freakonomics' celebrated its 20th anniversary in 2025

The book 'Freakonomics' arguably changed the business landscape when it came out, and has since evolved into other forms of media and a cultural phenomenon.

Explore a list of the 100 best novels of all time, compiled by some of the world's best living writers, including Salman Rushdie, Stephen King, and Jennifer Egan.

Fiction winners see the most financial gain

The Pulitzer Prize brings prestige, but inconsistent financial benefits. For nonfiction writers, receiving the award does increase sales, but only modestly. The big winners are the fiction writers, some of whom have seen sales double after a win.

The lifespan of a dollar bill

Durable, made of a cotton blend, and with billions in circulation, the common dollar bill is made to last. This video from 1440 goes inside the life of the country's paper currency, from printing to purchasing, in this quick 60-second overview.

Osamu Dazai's 'No Longer Human' found a new generation of readers, thanks to TikTok

The novel was published in 1948, a month after the writer's suicide, and went on to become a classic of Japanese literature. Decades later, an English translation gained popularity on TikTok, where younger readers praised the book for its handling of alienation. (Some users may experience a paywall.)

Mark Twain spent decades feuding with the US Postal Service, convinced its costs and regulations were bureaucratic overreach.

A century of Billboard issues documenting the evolution of popular music.

Browse a detailed visual analysis of over 200,000 similes—comparisons that often use 'like' or 'as'—from popular fiction to see how frequently writers the same idiomatic expressions.

Dozens of S&P 500 stocks, including Coca-Cola and Walmart—known as the dividend aristocrats—have increased dividends every year for 25 years

Mid-century modern graphic designers, known for their bright colors and bold lines in advertising, also found success with children's books.

The US Constitution is widely regarded as the longest-standing written national constitution still in force—see how it has influenced rights worldwide.

How the most famous Ebola book, The Hot Zone, which sold 3.5 million copies and was translated into 30 languages, got aspects of the disease so wrong.

When a Paris department store hesitated to sell Estée Lauder's perfume, she 'accidentally' broke a bottle, causing the smell to spread throughout the store and shoppers to start asking to buy the scent.

Frank Lloyd Wright's houses are historically hard to sell because they're old, subject to local landmark commissions, and often unfashionable

The first robot in literature may have been a 'mechanical man' in 1907's 'Ozma of Oz,' a book in L Frank Baum's 'Wizard of Oz' series.

Many legends about George Washington, including his supposed wooden teeth and the story of cutting down the cherry tree, lack evidence.

In 1939, baseball star Lou Gehrig delivered his inspirational 'Luckiest Man' speech after retiring due to the health condition that now bears his name.

The Brothers Grimm were lawyers before they were storytellers, but became interested in fairy tales as they began investigating how rules and customs had been passed down through cultures.

American short story writer Flannery O'Connor raised 40 peacocks, which became potent symbols for her fiction's elegant violence

The distributor behind 'Rocky Horror' pulled the film from its scheduled national release, believing it would be a failure, though it eventually amassed a dedicated fanbase through midnight showings, a trend that continues over 50 years later.

As of 2025, the most cited papers in science include a review of graphene, methods to improve image recognition, streamlining electron density calculations, and optimizing protein studies.

Art theft is the third-largest source of criminal revenues worldwide, thanks in part to the subjective nature of valuing a work of art.

Indefinite cloning of some endangered species may not sustain their longevity because cloning success rates decrease as genetic mutations accumulate.

Domino's Pizza's 30-minute delivery guarantee was responsible for the chain's 1980s surge, but it was discontinued after the company was found liable for delivery driver accidents.

'Silent' fireworks have gained more interest in recent years as a quieter celebratory option.

Neutron stars, the remains of some massive stars after they explode in a supernova, are the densest directly observable objects in the universe.

A vending machine run with Anthropic's AI went out of business after it was convinced to give away items for free and sell a video game console.

Existentialist writer Jean-Paul Sartre coined the famous phrase 'Hell is—other people' in his play 'No Exit'

Tattoos remain visible on your skin thanks to immune cells called macrophages