The Personal History of David Copperfield, or simply David Copperfield, is a novel written by English author Charles Dickens and first published in serial form in 1849–50 and in book form in 1850. David Copperfield has been ranked as one of Dickens best-loved works and the author himself called it his "favourite child." The work is semiautobiographical; Dickens describes his early personal experiences that had meant much to him, including his time working in a factory, his education, and (less extensively) his transition from parliamentary reporting to successful novel writing.