Editing American Notes (section)

{{Short description|1842 book by Charles Dickens}}
{{EngvarB|date=September 2013}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=January 2024}}
{{refimprove|date=September 2024}}
{{Infobox book  | <!-- See Wikipedia:WikiProject_Novels or Wikipedia:WikiProject_Books -->
| name           = American Notes
| title_orig     = American Notes for General Circulation
| translator     =
| image          = Americannotes-title page.jpg
| caption  = Title page inscribed by the author to illustrator "[[Daniel Maclise]] From his friend Charles Dickens, Eighteenth October 1842", one day prior to its official publication
| author         = [[Charles Dickens]]
| illustrator    =
| cover_artist   =
| country        = England
| language       = English
| series         =
| genre          = Non-fiction
| publisher      = [[Chapman & Hall]]
| release_date   = 19 October 1842
| media_type     = Print hardback, and paperback)
| pages          =
| isbn           =
| preceded_by    = [[Barnaby Rudge]]
| followed_by    = [[Martin Chuzzlewit]]
}}

'''''American Notes for General Circulation''''' is a [[Travel literature|travelogue]] by [[Charles Dickens]] detailing his trip to North America from January to June 1842. While there he acted as a critical observer of North American society, almost as if returning a status report on their progress. This can be compared to the style of his ''[[Pictures from Italy]]'' written four years later, where he wrote far more like a tourist. His American journey was also an inspiration for his novel ''[[Martin Chuzzlewit]]''. Having arrived in [[Boston]], he visited [[Lowell, Massachusetts|Lowell]], New York, and [[Philadelphia]], and travelled as far south as [[Richmond, Virginia|Richmond]], as far west as [[St. Louis]] and as far north as [[Quebec]]. The American city he liked best was [[Boston]] – "the air was so clear, the houses were so bright and gay. [...] The city is a beautiful one, and cannot fail, I should imagine, to impress all strangers very favourably." Further, it was close to the Perkins Institution and Massachusetts Asylum for the Blind where Dickens encountered [[Laura Bridgman]], who impressed him greatly.