This volume investigates the personal and professional correspondence of Charles Dickens during the final years of his literary career, specifically between 1865 and 1867. The editors provide a comprehensive scholarly collection of 1158 letters, offering insight into the author's daily life, his completion of the novel Our Mutual Friend, and his evolving public persona. This collection serves as a primary source for understanding the logistical and creative pressures faced by a major Victorian novelist during the mid-1860s.

Scholars and literary historians regard this series as the definitive reference for Dickensian research due to its rigorous editorial standards and exhaustive archival work. Readers frequently note the academic density of the prose, which is intended for researchers and specialists in nineteenth-century literature.