27 JUNE 1914, Page 13

Charles Dickens. (Hodder and Stoughton. 5s. net.)—This "extra number" of

the Bookman contains several "appre- ciations" of Dickens and numerous illustrations—chiefly of persons and places associated with the author of Pickwick. Sir W. Robertson Nicoll contributes a very interestingaccount of the original of Dora in David Copperfield—Dickens's first love, Maria Beadnell, whom be sardonically painted in later life as the plump and gushing Flora of Little Dorrit. This warning picture of feminine evolution is, we fear, likely to add to the number of confirmed bachelors.