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INTRODUCTION		  


In 1837, Queen Victoria ascended the throne of England. It was, perhaps like every year, the best of times and the worst of times. Science and industry were flourishing, even as agrarian society was collapsing and urban centers were teeming with outcasts. On the literary front, the writing careers of Jane Austen and Sir Walter Scott had ceased; the Brontës were beginning to stir; Thackeray and Trollope were gearing up; Dickens was at the ready and, as humorist Richard Armour has observed, "There was nothing to prevent Victorian Literature."

In that notable year, Charles Dickens's first novel, The Pickwick Papers, began publication and 165 years later, every one of Dickens's 14 completed novels is still in print. Yet, it is not the novels alone that have spread the name of Charles Dickens around the globe. Dramatic and musical adaptations of his works have played to more people than have ever read his books.

This phenomenon would have pleased Charles Dickens because he loved the stage passionately and was an avid theatregoer from his youth onward. During his lifetime he was a playwright, an actor and a public reader of abiding power. His works have been the source for thousands of dramatic adaptations in the theatre, in film, on television and radio. The Best of Times explores Dickens's relationship with live theatre.

The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts gratefully acknowledges the leadership support of Dorothy and Lewis B. Cullman. Additional support for exhibitions has been provided by Judy R. Rosenberg and Alfred A. Rosenberg and the Miriam and Harold Steinberg Foundation.