A Note on Editions

References to Bleak House and Hard Times, in this book, are to the Oxford World’s Classics editions of both novels, for no other reason than that they are easily available. As Oxford World’s Classics are sometimes re-edited, this note gives the specific editions used: Bleak House, edited with an introduction and notes by Stephen Gill (Oxford University Press, 1996); Hard Times, edited with an introduction by Paul Schlicke (Oxford University Press, 1989).

Page references to these editions appear in the text in brackets and preceded by ‘BH’ for Bleak House, and ‘HT’ for Hard Times, as for example (BH, 21–22) for Bleak House, pp. 21–22.