The Manuscript of Great Expectations: From the Townshend Collection, Wisbech

In Great Expectations, Charles Dickens chronicles the life of Pip, an ordinary country boy led astray by the trappings of London society as well as his desire to improve himself and become a gentleman. Along the way, Pip meets the disappointed Miss Havisham and her beautiful but unattainable ward, Estella, with whom he falls deeply in love. Beloved by generations of readers, Great Expectations was originally published in serial form from December 1860 to August 1861.