in the preface written to accompany the first single-volume publication of david copperfield Dickens tells usthat the completion of the novel is for him both a regret and a coming and he is satisfied that it is finished after two years of hard work. He mourns its to whom he has become intensely attached. Dickens remarks that David copperfield is his favorite of all his novels and that, of all the characters he has invented over the years, David copperfield is dearest to him