Phiz

'Phiz' - Hablot Knight Browne - was the great illustrator of Dickens' fiction. For over twenty-three years they worked together, and Phiz's drawings brought to life a galaxy of much-loved characters, from Mr Pickwick, Nicholas Nickleby and Mr Micawber, to Little Nell and David Copperfield. But, from the mystery of his birth onwards, Phiz himself led a life as rich as any novel.

In this vivid, lively memoir - the first full biography, long-awaited by Victorian scholars - his great-great-granddaughter Valerie Browne Lester tracks the struggles of the abandoned Browne family and follows Phiz's path to marriage and fame, his travels around England and Ireland and work with Dickens, Lever, Trollope and others, and his colourful private life.

Based on a mass of unpublished material, this enchanting book, packed with surprising and delicious illustrations, is a perfect present for all who love Dickens and enjoy the hidden byways of Victorian life.

Valerie Browne Lester, the great-great-granddaughter of Phiz, is a journalist, poet and playwright, and former university lecturer at George Washington University. She is the author ofFasten Your Seatbelts! History and Heroism in the Pan Am Cabinand lives in Maryland, USA.

The first full biography of Dickens's most famous illustrator. Full of his irresistible drawings, it also provides a vivid and colourful picture of the Victorian age.