READING TIME · CHARLES DICKENS · 1850

How long does it take to read David Copperfield?

At an average reading speed, about 23 hours 10 minutes. David Copperfield is 360,903 words long, in 64 chapters.

WORDS: 360,903
CHAPTERS: 64
READING LEVEL: About grade 6 (Flesch–Kincaid)

Reading time at different speeds

Total reading time for David Copperfield at three reading speeds
Reader	Speed	Whole book
Unhurried	200 words a minute	30 h 5 min
Average adult reader	260 words a minute	23 h 10 min
Quick reader	320 words a minute	18 h 50 min

To finish it at a steady pace:

20 minutes a day: about 70 days
30 minutes a day: about 47 days
60 minutes a day: about 24 days

How many chapters are in David Copperfield?

David Copperfield has 64 chapters. The longest is Chapter 52: I Assist at an Explosion (9,521 words, 37 min); the shortest is Chapter 64: A Last Retrospect (1,627 words, 6 min). The average chapter takes 22 min.

Reading times below are at 260 words a minute.

Words and reading time for each chapter of David Copperfield
Chapter	Words	Reading time	Practice in Parlor
Chapter 1: I Am Born	4,651	18 min	Check it →
Chapter 2: I Observe	6,220	24 min	Check it →
Chapter 3: I Have a Change	6,461	25 min	Check it →
Chapter 4: I Fall Into Disgrace	7,974	31 min	Check it →
Chapter 5: I Am Sent Away From Home	7,694	30 min	Check it →
Chapter 6: I Enlarge My Circle of Acquaintance	3,083	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 7: My ‘First Half’ at Salem House	7,492	29 min	Check it →
Chapter 8: My Holidays. Especially One Happy Afternoon	6,169	24 min	Check it →
Chapter 9: I Have a Memorable Birthday	4,986	19 min	Check it →
Chapter 10: I Become Neglected, and Am Provided for	8,450	33 min	Check it →
Chapter 11: I Begin Life on My Own Account, and Don’t Like It	6,947	27 min	Check it →
Chapter 12: Liking Life on My Own Account No Better, I Form a Great	3,984	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 13: The Sequel of My Resolution	8,583	33 min	Check it →
Chapter 14: My Aunt Makes Up Her Mind About Me	6,502	25 min	Check it →
Chapter 15: I Make Another Beginning	4,040	16 min	Check it →
Chapter 16: I Am a New Boy in More Senses Than One	9,081	35 min	Check it →
Chapter 17: Somebody Turns Up	7,230	28 min	Check it →
Chapter 18: A Retrospect	3,103	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 19: I Look About Me, and Make a Discovery	6,884	26 min	Check it →
Chapter 20: Steerforth’s Home	3,687	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 21: Little Em’ly	8,262	32 min	Check it →
Chapter 22: Some Old Scenes, and Some New People	9,349	36 min	Check it →
Chapter 23: I CORROBORATE Mr. DICK, AND CHOOSE A PROFESSION	6,078	23 min	Check it →
Chapter 24: My First Dissipation	3,535	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 25: Good and Bad Angels	8,244	32 min	Check it →
Chapter 26: I Fall Into Captivity	6,530	25 min	Check it →
Chapter 27: Tommy Traddles	3,914	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 28: Mr. MICAWBER’S GAUNTLET	7,941	31 min	Check it →
Chapter 29: I Visit Steerforth at His Home, Again	3,083	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 30: A Loss	3,355	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 31: A Greater Loss	3,809	15 min	Check it →
Chapter 32: The Beginning of a Long Journey	7,993	31 min	Check it →
Chapter 33: Blissful	6,999	27 min	Check it →
Chapter 34: My Aunt Astonishes Me	3,484	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 35: Depression	8,573	33 min	Check it →
Chapter 36: Enthusiasm	6,966	27 min	Check it →
Chapter 37: A Little Cold Water	3,326	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 38: A Dissolution of Partnership	6,829	26 min	Check it →
Chapter 39: Wickfield and Heep	7,949	31 min	Check it →
Chapter 40: The Wanderer	3,745	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 41: Dora’s Aunts	6,479	25 min	Check it →
Chapter 42: Mischief	8,377	32 min	Check it →
Chapter 43: Another Retrospect	3,336	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 44: Our Housekeeping	6,340	24 min	Check it →
Chapter 45: Mr. Dick Fulfils My Aunt’s Predictions	6,393	25 min	Check it →
Chapter 46: Intelligence	5,575	21 min	Check it →
Chapter 47: Martha	4,619	18 min	Check it →
Chapter 48: Domestic	4,743	18 min	Check it →
Chapter 49: I Am Involved in Mystery	4,761	18 min	Check it →
Chapter 50: Mr. PEGGOTTY’S DREAM COMES TRUE	4,186	16 min	Check it →
Chapter 51: The Beginning of a Longer Journey	7,512	29 min	Check it →
Chapter 52: I Assist at an Explosion	9,521	37 min	Check it →
Chapter 53: Another Retrospect	2,017	8 min	Check it →
Chapter 54: Mr. MICAWBER’S TRANSACTIONS	6,076	23 min	Check it →
Chapter 55: Tempest	5,037	19 min	Check it →
Chapter 56: The New Wound, and the Old	2,530	10 min	Check it →
Chapter 57: The Emigrants	4,284	16 min	Check it →
Chapter 58: Absence	2,718	10 min	Check it →
Chapter 59: Return	6,651	26 min	Check it →
Chapter 60: Agnes	3,593	14 min	Check it →
Chapter 61: I Am Shown Two Interesting Penitents	4,882	19 min	Check it →
Chapter 62: A Light Shines on My Way	3,394	13 min	Check it →
Chapter 63: A Visitor	3,067	12 min	Check it →
Chapter 64: A Last Retrospect	1,627	6 min	Check it →

READING IT FOR CLASS?

Knowing how long it takes is one thing. Understanding it is another.

Parlor Study is a reading comprehension companion. Read David Copperfield one chapter at a time, then make sure you understood it.

Read a chapter. The full Project Gutenberg text, with highlights, notes and read-aloud.
Explain it in your own words. Challenge me asks about the main idea, what the text suggests without saying, and the turn the chapter hinges on, then checks your answer against the text.
Talk it through, then come back. Discuss stays within the chapters you have reached, so it won’t give away what comes next, and Revisit brings your ideas back later.

Open David Copperfield in Parlor →How Parlor practices reading comprehension

Parlor Study is a web preview for ages 13 and up, available by invitation. Request an invitation. AI feedback can make mistakes; check it against the text.

How these numbers were worked out

Words are counted in David Copperfield, Project Gutenberg eBook #766, the edition Parlor opens, divided into chapters exactly as Parlor shows them. Project Gutenberg’s licence and notes are left out. Other editions may differ slightly.

Reading speeds follow Marc Brysbaert’s review of 190 studies, which found that adults read English silently at about 260 words a minute for fiction and 238 for non-fiction (Journal of Memory and Language, 2019). Older and more difficult books often take longer than their word count suggests.

The reading level is the Flesch–Kincaid grade, worked out from average sentence length (16 words) and word length. It measures how long the sentences and words are, not how hard the ideas are.

Similar length

Bleak House 22 h 45 min
Little Dorrit 22 h
Our Mutual Friend 21 h 30 min
Nicholas Nickleby 21 h 5 min

Also by Charles Dickens

All reading times →