The Charles Dickens novel, in an antique printed edition, that Spock gives James Kirk for his birthday in Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan and whose opening and closing lines frame the film.
A Tale of Two Cities is a nineteenth-century Earth novel by Charles Dickens. In Star Trek II: The Wrath of Khan, set in 2285, Spock presents Admiral Kirk with an old bound copy on his birthday, knowing his friend's fondness for antiques.
Kirk reads out the famous opening about the best and worst of times and asks whether a message is intended. He needs the spectacles McCoy gives him the same day to read it at all, a reminder that he is growing older behind a desk.
The book returns at the end. After Spock gives his life to save the Enterprise, Kirk, looking out at the new Genesis planet, quotes the novel's final lines about a far better thing and a far better rest, and admits to feeling young.