Household Words
Read by LibriVox Volunteers
Household Words is a weekly magazine edited by Charles Dickens, bringing together fiction, poetry, nonfiction, and opinion for a broad reading public in 1850s England.
Rather than following one story or subject, the collection moves among different kinds of writing and topics. Its variety offers a snapshot of the interests and concerns presented in a Victorian periodical.
The title comes from Shakespeare’s Henry V, where “household words” describes language made familiar through everyday use. Listeners can dip into a changing mix of short works, with Dickens’s editorial hand connecting the magazine’s varied contents.
Chapters
Select a chapter to play
| The Ghost of Art | 19:13 | Read by MelissaKeath | |
| The Wonders of 1851 | 27:15 | Read by Beeswaxcandle | |
| I Would Not Have Thee Young Again | 1:12 | Read by Katie Johnstone | |
| Little Mary -- A Tale of the Black Year | 25:32 | Read by MelissaKeath | |
| A Great Man Departed | 2:13 | Read by Larry Wilson | |
| The Adventures of the Public Records | 21:12 | Read by Nick Autorina | |
| A Mightier Hunter than Nimrod | 22:43 | Read by Nick Autorina | |
| Chips -- A Marriage in St. Petersburg | 7:43 | Read by Brize C | |
| A New Joint-Stock Pandemonium Company | 2:57 | Read by Stacey Malcolm | |
| Youth and Summer | 20:21 | Read by Brize C | |
| The Power of Small Beginnings | 10:20 | Read by Patty H |