Pictures from Italy

Pictures from Italy
Title page, first edition of 1846
Author(s)	Charles Dickens
Illustrator	Samuel Palmer
Country	England
Language	English
Genre(s)	Non-Fiction; Travelogue
Publisher	London: Bradbury & Evans
Publication date	1846
Media type	Print (Hardback, and Paperback)
Preceded by	The Battle of Life
Followed by	Dombey and Son

Pictures from Italy is a travelogue by Charles Dickens, written in 1846. The book reveals the concerns of its author as he presents, according to Kate Flint, the country "like a chaotic magic-lantern show, fascinated both by the spectacle it offers, and by himself as spectator".^[1]

Background

In 1844, Dickens took a respite from writing novels and traveled to France and Italy with his family for several months. They visited the most famous sights: Rome, Naples (with Vesuvius still smouldering), Florence and Venice. In his travelogue the author portrays a nation of great contrasts: between grandiose buildings and urban desolation, and everyday life beside ancient monuments. But it is his encounters with Italy's colorful street life that captures the imagination. Dickens is particularly drawn to the costumes, cross-dressing, and sheer exuberance of the Roman carnival. From the book we learn that Dickens was an early riser and walker, enjoying touring the major attractions on foot.

References

^ "Dickens" by Kate Flint. Prentice Hall / Harvester Wheatsheaf (April 1986)

External links

Pictures from Italy at Internet Archive.
Pictures from Italy at Project Gutenberg
Pictures from Italy at dickens-literature.com

Works by Charles Dickens

Novels	The Pickwick Papers (1836–1837) Oliver Twist (1837–1839) Nicholas Nickleby (1838–1839) The Old Curiosity Shop (1840–1841) Barnaby Rudge (1840–1841) Martin Chuzzlewit (1843–1844) Dombey and Son (1846–1848) David Copperfield (1849–1850) Bleak House (1852–1853) Hard Times (1854) Little Dorrit (1855–1857) A Tale of Two Cities (1859) Great Expectations (1860–1861) Our Mutual Friend (1864–1865) The Mystery of Edwin Drood (unfinished) (1870)

Christmas books	A Christmas Carol (1843) The Chimes (1844) The Cricket on the Hearth (1845) The Battle of Life (1846) The Haunted Man and the Ghost's Bargain (1848)

Short stories	Sunday Under Three Heads (1836) The Lamplighter (1838) A Child's Dream of a Star (1850) Captain Murderer The Long Voyage (1853) The Lazy Tour of Two Idle Apprentices (1857) (with Wilkie Collins) Hunted Down (1859) The Signal-Man (1866) George Silverman's Explanation (1868) Holiday Romance (1868)

Christmas short stories	A Christmas Tree (1850) What Christmas is, as We Grow Older (1851) The Poor Relation's Story (1852) The Child's Story (1852) The Schoolboy's Story (1853) Nobody's Story (1853) Going into Society (1858) Somebody's Luggage (1862) Mrs Lirriper's Lodgings (1863) Mrs Lirriper's Legacy (1864) Doctor Marigold's Prescriptions (1865)

Short story collections	Sketches by Boz (1837–1839) The Mudfog Papers (1837–1838) Master Humphrey's Clock (1840–1841) Boots at the Holly-tree Inn: And Other Stories (1858) Reprinted Pieces (1861)

Non-fiction	American Notes (1842) Pictures from Italy (1846) The Life of Our Lord (1846, published in 1934) A Child's History of England (1851–1853) The Uncommercial Traveller (1860–1869)

Poetry & plays	The Village Coquettes (play, 1836) The Fine Old English Gentleman (poetry, 1841) The Frozen Deep (play, 1866) (with Wilkie Collins) No Thoroughfare: A Drama: In Five Acts (play, 1867) (with Wilkie Collins)

Journalism	The Examiner (1808–1886) Monthly Magazine (1833–1835) Morning Chronicle (1834–1836) Evening Chronicle (1835) Bentley's Miscellany (1836–1838) Master Humphrey's Clock (1840–1841) The Pic-Nic Papers (1841) Daily News (1846) Household Words (1850–1859) All the Year Round (1858–1870)

Collaborations	Household Words The Seven Poor Travellers (1854) (with Wilkie Collins, Adelaide Proctor, George Sala and Eliza Linton) The Holly-tree Inn (1855) (with Wilkie Collins, William Howitt, Harriet Parr, and Adelaide Procter) The Wreck of the Golden Mary (1856) (with Wilkie Collins, Adelaide Proctor, Harriet Parr, Percy Fitzgerald and Rev. James White) The Perils of Certain English Prisoners (1857) (with Wilkie Collins) A House to Let (1858) (with Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell and Adelaide Procter) All the Year Round The Haunted House (1859) (with Wilkie Collins, Elizabeth Gaskell, Adelaide Procter, George Sala, and Hesba Stretton) A Message from the Sea (1860) (with Wilkie Collins, Robert Buchanan, Charles Allston Collins, Amelia Edwards, and Harriet Parr) Tom Tiddler's Ground (1861) (with Wilkie Collins, John Harwood, Charles Allston Collins, and Amelia Edwards) The Trial for Murder (1865) (with Charles Allston Collins) Mugby Junction (1866) (with Andrew Halliday, Charles Allston Collins, Hesba Stretton and Amelia Edwards) No Thoroughfare (1867) (with Wilkie Collins)

Articles & essays	A Visit to Newgate (1836) Epitaph of Charles Irving Thornton (1842) In Memoriam W. M. Thackeray (1850) A Coal Miner's Evidence (1850) Frauds on the Fairies (1853) The Lost Arctic Voyagers (1854)