Happy 200th Birthday to Charles Dickens!

It is the 200th birthday of Charles Dickens, the Victorian novelist who gave us so many much-loved and compassionate stories about the hard-working poor in 19th century England. Not to mention those fabulous characters he introduced us to, such as Old Chuzzlewit, Pip, Mr. Pumblechook and Mealy Potatoes, just to name a few. 

Here is a list of Dickens' novels and stories that you can download right now from the Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) web site of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS) at http://nlsbard.loc.gov.

Not yet registered for BARD?  Register online for BARD. Just remember that before you can use BARD, you must first be registered with TBBC.

Download from BARD all of the Dickens that your heart desires!

Barnaby Rudge. Read by Alan Haines. Reading time 25 hours 26 minutes.Explores the anti-Catholic 'Gordon Riots' of 1780 in which Barnaby, the half-wit hero, is mistakenly identified as a leading rioter, and condemned to death. DB10487

Bleak House. Read by George Holmes. Reading time 40 hours 34 minutes.Satire of the English judicial system and aristocratic class of Dickens's time. Follows the fortunes of young Esther Summerson and her mother, Lady Dedlock, as the disposition of the Jarndyce estate drags on year after year. DB43614

A Christmas Carol. Read by Clark Niederjohn. Reading time 3 hours 28 minutes. Classic nineteenth-century Christmas story set in England describes the conversion of grasping old miser Ebenezer Scrooge when he is visited by ghosts of Christmas past, present, and future.   DB43546

A Christmas Carol. Read by Roy Avers. Reading time 20 minutes. Stingy Ebenezer Scrooge is visited by four ghosts who convince him to be kinder to people. Scrooge learns the meaning of Christmas and helps Tiny Tim and his family. A shorter version of the 1843 classic tale. For grades 2-4. 2009. DB70685

A Christmas Carol. Read by Brian Hemmingsen. Reading time 1 hour 27 minutes. The author's short version of the original Christmas Carol (RC 43546) retains the tale of Tiny Tim, his meek father Bob Cratchit, and the old miser Ebenezer Scrooge, who learns the true meaning of Christmas when three ghostly visitors review his past and foretell his future. For grades 4-7. 1843.  DB71821

The Cricket on the Hearth and Other Christmas Stories. Read by Gary Telles. Reading time 6 hours 15 minutes. Three short Christmas tales written in the 1850s. In "The Cricket on the Hearth" and "The Holly-Tree," misunderstandings between lovers are cleared up in time to make the holiday cheerful. Similarly, in "The Haunted House," lovers are eventually united. DB45381

David Copperfield. Read by John Horton. Reading time 38 hours 31 minutes.Autobiographical classic first published in 1849-50. Chronicles David's life, from a childhood marked by his mother's death and his stepfather's cruelty, through his success as an author. Also an expose of the abuse of children in nineteenth-century England. DB22325

Hard times. Read by Michael Clarke-Laurence. Reading time 10 hours 26 minutes. A protest against materialism, set in an industrial coketown in mid 19th-century England. Governed solely by self-interest, Thomas Gradgrind destroys his children, Louisa and Thomas, by a complete absence of sympathy and sentiment. DB13600

The Life and Adventures of Martin Chuzzlewit. Read by Patrick Horgan. Reading time 35 hours 21 minutes. Old Chuzzlewit, surrounded by a selfish family, sees the same traits forming in his grandson Martin and kicks him out of the house. Penniless, young Martin makes his way to America to seek his fortune. After a series of difficult experiences, he is cured of his greed. Other members of the Chuzzlewit clan have their own selfish goals, including a plot to murder Old Chuzzlewit. DB40528

The Life of Our Lord: Written for His Children during the Years 1846-1849. Read by David Cutler. Reading time 1 hour 49 minutes. Victorian novelist retells the life of Jesus Christ, adapted from the Gospel of St. Luke, for his children to enjoy every Christmas. 1999 introduction by his great-great-grandson, Gerald Charles Dickens. For grades 3-6 and older readers. 1846. DB57718

Nicholas Nickleby. Read by Michael Clarke-Laurence. Reading time 35 hours 29 minutes. Nicholas Nickleby, the son of a poor country gentleman, struggles to make his own way in the world. A succession of jobs takes him into the establishment of the brothers Cheeryble as a clerk. From this post he rises to success as a merchant. DB12804

The Old Curiosity Shop. Read by Tom Martin. Reading time 27 hours 40 minutes. First published in 1841, Dickens's sentimental novel features Little Nell and her adoring grandfather. The latter gambles away the last of their funds in an attempt to extricate himself from his debts to the evil hunchback, Daniel Quilp. Nell and her grandfather are forced to wander as beggars when Quilp takes over their old curiosity shop. DB24312

Oliver Twist. Read by Patrick Horgan. Reading time 17 hours 15 minutes. The story of an orphan boy from an English workhouse who falls into the hands of rogues and is trained as a pickpocket.  DB22868

The Pickwick Papers. Read by George Holmes. Reading time 37 hours 15 minutes. First published in installments from 1836 to 1837, this classic features Samuel Pickwick, general chairman of the Pickwick Club, and three other members who constitute a corresponding society in order to report their journeys, adventures, and observation of character and manners. DB47884

The posthumous papers of the Pickwick Club. Read by Brendan Burke. Reading time 29 hours 12 minutes. Mr. Samuel Pickwick, general chairman of the Pickwick Club, and three other members constitute a Corresponding Society in order to report their journeys and adventures, observations of character and manners. The Pickwick papers are the humorous record of their ventures into the world. First published 1836-1837. DB18134

A Tale of Two Cities. Read by John Horton. Reading time 14 hours 15 minutes. Englishman Sydney Carton and Frenchman Charles Darnay, who bear a strong physical resemblance to each other, love the same woman, Lucie Manette. The sacrifice by Carton for his friends is the climax of this story set in late-eighteenth-century London and Paris during the French Revolution. DB49497

The Uncommercial Traveller. Read by George Holmes. Reading time 16 hours 27 minutes. Thirty-seven essays by Charles Dickens published in the weekly journal All the Year Round between 1860 and 1869. Dickens records his observations of people and places in "Travelling Abroad," "Arcadian London," "The Italian Prisoner," "Bound for the Great Salt Lake," "In the French-Flemish Country," "Aboard Ship," and others. 1869. DB62550