Our hero confronts a large and varied cast, including Wackford Squeers, the fantastic ogre of a schoolmaster, and Vincent Crummles, the grandiloquent ham actor, on his comic and satirical adventures up and down the country. Punishing wickedness, befriending the helpless, strutting the stage, and falling in love, Nicholas shares some of his creator's energy and earnestness as he faces the pressing issues of early Victorian society. ABOUT THE SERIES: For over 100 years Oxford World's Classics has made available the widest range of literature from around the globe. Each affordable volume reflects Oxford's commitment to scholarship, providing the most accurate text plus a wealth of other valuable features, including expert introductions by leading authorities, helpful notes to clarify the text, up-to-date bibliographies for further study, and much more.

"This two-volume edition of Nicholas Nickleby is superb and will likely be considered the standard edition of the novel for the foreseeable future. This two-volume edition of Nicholas Nickleby is superb and will likely be considered the standard edition of the novel for the foreseeable future. With this much authoritative information in tow, the two Oxford volumes will surely be the first place of resort for serious scholars of Nicholas Nickleby for decades to come. One of the real pleasures of the Essay on the Text, and for that matter, the whole of the second volume of the Oxford edition, is that it allows the reader to get close to the moment-to-moment choices of Dickens's revision and editorial process..." - Dickens Quarterly