\047Immesurably the best of my stories\047 Thus wrote Charles Dickens on finishing \047Martin Chuzzlewit\047 in 1842. His principal object was \047to show how Selfishness propagates itself\047 in a story whose hero is only one of a brilliant cast of characters, ranging from the hypocritical Mr. Pecksniff and his daughters and the disreputable Mrs Gamp to the arch-villain Jonas Chuzzlewit. As young Martin gains self-knowledge during his sojourn in America, in scenes whose satire caused great offence, Dickens exposes publica scandal as well as private malice through the corrupt dealings of the Anglo-Bengalee Assurance Company. This edition of one of Dickens\047s earlier novels is based on the accurate Clarendon edition of the text and includes the prefaces to the 1850 and 1867 editions and Dickens\047s Number Plans.